Opportunites
by CandleCommons
Summary: Leonard Daniels of UA Ladian City, Texas gets an opportunity of a lifetime to study abroad at the UA in Musutafu. Having already completed a semester of school, he finds out he'll be joining class 1-A. It's nervewracking, to be at the top hero academy and calling the top class of that academy as peers. But stress is apart of the job, and Leonard is willing to learn.
1. Chapter 1 - Arrival

**A/N: Hello all. Thanks for choosing to read my fanfic here. I've been excited about this fanfic for a while and I thought I should preface some things before you should start reading.**

**1\. This isn't my first fanfiction - However, it has been a while since I have written a fanfic so please bear with me if some of it seems messy.**

**2\. This fanfiction follows the events after season 3 of the anime minus the movie - Kind of. Some events are a bit moved around. Such as when class 1-A met The Big 3 before the year started rather than after the opening ceremony. You will find out more as the story progresses!**

**3\. I have not read the manga - I have looked at a few pages for references of places and people so if you read the manga and don't see something in here that should have happened previously then I'm sorry xp. **

**Other than that, please enjoy and leave a review. Those always help. Thanks again!**

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There it was, Musutafu. Leonard's heart raced as the city came into view from the window. Looking out the window seat he gazed at the pure amount of one tall building after another. It was a much more active scenery compared to the miles of the ocean he saw prior to this. Leonard couldn't even remember the number of hours it had been since he saw the last bit of the states before flying over the Pacific. But now he saw was a forest of brick and mortar. He could see a lot of greenery in the hills far off, the hills and mountains. It was a stunning view.

Looking down at the city, he had no idea how he was going to figure out how he was going to remember his way around the city. Compared to Ladian City, this was a just a massive maze from above it. Eventually, he thought, a lot of walking and learning shouldn't be too hard. He yawned at the completion of his thought, jet lag beginning to run its course.

The flight here was no joke, a fourteen hour-long flight from the states would give anyone a hard time. Unless, you know, they had a quirk that made them not have to sleep. That would be a great quirk come to think of it. Nonetheless, he couldn't sleep on the plane anyway, how could he? The entire flight he couldn't stop thinking about this, luckily he did eat some food. A full year studying abroad at one of the most prestigious hero schools in the world. Anyone would kill for that. And if it came to it, Leonard might just have, maybe. Actually no, that's pretty evil. He would actually work his ass off so he made sure he could go. That's a much better way of putting it.

Leonard watched the city view for a bit longer, feeling lucky he was able to land a window seat. While looking, he could partially see his reflection and he was pretty horrified at what he saw. Bags already underneath his purple eyes and his white hair a mess. The clothes he was wearing didn't much help his appearance either. Some black sweatpants, old beat up tennis shoes and a white T-shirt that probably should have been washed. Quickly fixing his hair to be somewhat presentable, a calm voice of a man came over the intercom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. The time is 2:27 PM in Musutafu, with a temperature of twenty-three degrees Celsius. We'll be landing here shortly in about ten minutes so if you would go ahead and please fasten your seatbelts. Thank you." The entire cabin began to click their seatbelts and slowly gathered their belongings. Leonard did the same, putting his laptop in his backpack. He also adjusted his watch fourteen hours ahead from Ladian City time. He laid back in the seat and looked out the window once more, the city much closer as they were descending. The ant-sized people slowly became the size of caterpillars. But far off in the distance, something caught his eye. Four glass buildings connected by a bridge. Undoubtedly, it was UA.

More impressive than any building in the vicinity. He smiled, heart racing with an intensity of excitement and fear. Wondering what all he was going to learn, what he was going to experience. He knew of some of the students already from watching the sports festival months ago. All of them were impressive, more powerful than him for sure. Not even class 1-A, but all the classes were great.

He remembered the 1-on-1's. The fight between most of them was pretty quick and not the most exciting. Except for the ones with that Todoroki guy. The last two he was in there had to be some intervention from the teachers. He didn't end up winning the tournament, but everyone sure remembers his name for sure. Leonard looked back out the window.

Eventually, the school disappeared over the horizon as all of a sudden Leonard, still lost in thought, was met with a sudden reduction in speed as the plane had hit the ground landing. Releasing a small whimper, nearly killed by the nerves. Clearly disturbing his fellow jet-lagged passengers, a few giving him a look. Nervously he smiled and let out a simple sorry. The tires continued to screech and so did the jerks of the plane. A few seconds later the plane came to a reasonable speed and began its docking procedures. Again a voice came through on the intercom. This time just thanking the passengers and giving instructions on how to exit the plane in an orderly fashioned. All the things nobody ever did successfully or in the most efficient way possible.

Once the captain finally finished the plane came to a stop at a dock and people began to get up and grab their belongings from the cabinets above them. While of course, taking forever. People in the front slowly began to make their way out onto the bridge and into the airport itself. As fortunate as Leonard was with the window seat, he was unfortunate with the distance from the exit. Nearly fifteen rows from the exit. Releasing a sigh of exhaustion and impatience, he just sat there and waited.

Instead of just sulk in his seat, he pulled out his wallet. Double-checking for some important paperwork. Provisional license, check. UA ID card, check. Twenty US Dollars that he may have to trade for the Japanese currency, check. Everything seemed to be in place. At least one out of many horrifying airport tragedies avoided.

Eventually, it came to his turn to exit, awkwardly bumping into a few people who all smelled of sleep deprivation. Leonard exited the plane and onto the bridge, nodding to the pilots as he made his way to take his first few steps into the Musutafu airport. Emerging from the bridge into the airport, he took a breath of relief as to finally getting off of a flying metal cylinder and back on the ground. He took a look around at the airport and everything was quite familiar, at least by airport standards.

The color palette was mainly white and orange, and there was a lot of hero advertisements. He recognized a few, exciting him, fooling himself he would actually get to meet any of them. He saw banners of Kamui Woods, Mount Lady, Endeavor and so many more. Walking through the large open halls of the airport were just full of these banners. There were a few more he didn't recognize but they all looked impressive. At the end of the hall, he could see a huge banner of the one and only All Might. Still in his muscular form and smiling as wide as ever. Leonard stopped in the middle and just stared at the banner for a moment.

Just a few weeks ago was his battle with All for One in Kamino Ward. Leonard remembered watching the battle the following morning after the news had broke in the states. It was a fight that no one wanted and an outcome no one expected. The retirement of All Might shook the whole world up, and it was still something everyone was getting used to. Leonard thought about what it would be like to meet him, shake his hand and really, really meet him. Like that will happen, too busy with UA work I'm sure. Leonard chuckled to himself and shook his head before continuing on to the best part of airports. Luggage retrieval.

Leonard walked up to where his luggage was said to be and waited around the metal carousel. Gave a loud and exaggerated yawn, before feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and noticed he had a new message from an unknown number saying, "**Hello, Leonard Daniels. We just got notice of your arrival in Musutafu. There will be a ride waiting for you by the northern exit gate to take you to UA, you should see someone with a poster with your name on it. You will be safely escorted to the dormitories. We are excited that you chose to study here with us at UA!**" The message ended. Even though he was tired, he was thrilled. He almost forgot about the dorms here. He couldn't wait, but the metal carousel could. Still unmoving with no intention of moving soon.

After what seemed like an hour the carousel began to spit out luggage one by one. People began grabbing and checking tags of suitcases and bags and slowly less and less luggage spun around the carousel. Leonard scanned bag after bag and finally spotted his black and orange suitcase. Of course only after he awkwardly touched and grabbed at other peoples black and orange suitcases. Eventually, he had his things and made his way towards the northern exit gate was. Luckily there were a plethora of signs able to direct him that way.

Before getting there, he suddenly pulled his phone out. He almost forgot to text his dad that he made it safely. Quickly shooting a text his way, well knowing it had to be about three in the morning. He'd eventually wake up and see it. Finding the northern exit, the door opened to the cool breeze of the city. The roadway where cars would drop off and pick up people was of course busy. The entire roundabout was. Horns honking and people yelling at each other. Yep, still an airport. In his glancing, he totally missed the sign that read his name right in front of him. A long-haired man wearing a black suit and tie with a matching black sunglasses was holding a small poster with his name. He was standing in front of an extremely clean black sedan. The windows were tinted, no way to see what was on the inside.

Leonard made his way over to the man, rolling his suitcase behind him. "Um, excuse me?" he asked. The man looked to him intensely, spooking him a bit.

"Leonard Daniels?" The man asked him. Leonard gave a shy nod, handing him his UA ID card from the states. The man took it from him, inspecting it up and down. After a brief moment, the man looked back at Leonard with another intent stare. Even though he couldn't see the man's eyes, he felt pierced by them. Leonard felt sweat begin to build up, what is going on here?

All of a sudden, the man's intense scary face swiftly became a welcoming smile. "Welcome to Musutafu Leonard. I hope the flight was good," he said, handing back Leonard's ID card. Leonard just stared, very confused at what just happened. "Here, let me get that suitcase for you." Before Leonard could get a simple thank-you out, the man grabbed his suitcase from him. "I'll put this in the trunk for you, why don't you go ahead and hop in the back." He opened the back door, Leonard still lost at words. Suddenly, a voice came from inside the car, a voice anyone would recognize.

"We really got to work on your people skills Shoma. You nearly gave the kid a heart attack." Leonard jumped and looked over to confirm his guess. "Sorry about that, it's good to meet you, Leonard Daniels." It was him. The one and only. All Might. In his true weakened form, looking like a skeleton, with blue, beady eyes and sunken cheeks. But it was him, wearing a similar suit to that of Shoma. But extremely oversized for his form. Leonard couldn't believe it, it seemed he would be at a loss of words this entire school year if it kept up like this. He just stared into the car at All Might, jaw on the floor, legs unwilling to work.

He looked around quickly, trying his best to convince himself that this was real. He had to have been dreaming. Right, he's still on the plane. He's asleep and that explains everything. Surely All Might wouldn't have come to pick him up from the airport.

"Mister Daniels," Shoma said, still holding the door for Leonard. Shaking himself back into reality he looked up to Shoma. Shoma just smiled at him, "Was there something you may have forgotten?"

"Oh, no, I just. Um." Leonard had no excuse and forced himself to get the feeling in his legs again and sat down in the car. Any minute away from having a heart attack. The door closed behind him and Shoma made his way to the back of the car with his suitcase. Leonard just stared at All Might.

What was he even doing here? Obviously, he was still a teacher at UA but why would he come to do something as menial as picking up a student at an airport? So many questions floating through his head.

All Might extended his hand to shake Leonard's. Leonard awkwardly put his hand in his. Felt like he was touching nothing but bone.

"I've heard a lot about you Leonard. Really glad to have you here in Musutafu."

_He has? He is?_ Leonard thought to himself. That was a compliment he wouldn't be forgetting soon.

Shoma eventually got in the driver's seat of the car and began to drive into the traffic-ridden mess of the roundabout. All Might pulled out a briefcase on the floorboard in between his feet and opened it up, pulling out some papers.

"So, how was the flight kid?" he asked Leonard. Still a bit on edge, Leonard sheepishly spoke up.

"Uh, yeah, it was good. Pretty long." he chuckled nervously, All Might continued organizing the papers. Some sort of packet.

"I bet. It's like what thirteen, fourteen hours from Ladian City?"

"About that much, yeah." Sweat dripping from his brow. Leonard recognized the papers All Might was looking at, it was his student record. The burning question couldn't stay contained, "Sorry I just have to ask All Might, uh, sir. What exactly are you doing here?" All Might looked over straight-faced, Leonard worried he offended him. But the worries went away as he gave a simple smile.

"Well isn't it obvious. I'm here to officially welcome you to UA, you are the first exchange student we've had in a while." Leonard was quite surprised, it actually relaxed him knowing that All Might actually wanted to be here. There's the whole notion that heroes are too good for anyone else, this proved that wrong. At least in All Might's case. Leonard felt his shoulders relax.

"Oh, wow, well thank you. Sorry for being weird, I would have thought you would have been too busy or something." All Might laughed, causing him to cough a bit.

"It's been a busy summer I'll tell you that," Leonard got goosebumps. The way he sounded so grim about it. Leonard remembered hearing about the summer camp a few weeks ago getting infiltrated by the League of Villains, resulting in getting one of the students kidnapped. Then his fight with All for One. His last fight as a pro. Surely that can't be true. All Might brightened up again.

"But I'm glad I got to be the first to welcome you. Especially looking at your records here." All Might adjusted the paperwork he had in his hands already. All of Leonard's grades, exam scores, physical tests. Everything was in there from his 1st year at UA Ladian City. All Might flipped through the pages. "You have your provisional license, great grades on the written tests…" All Might paused for a moment as if had to catch himself.

"I know my practical exams aren't the greatest in the world," Leonard said shamefully, he barely passed to get his provisional license when he took it a few months ago. He looked out the window, noticing they were on some sort of freeway.

"Hey, you still passed your final and got your provisional license. Not everyone in your class can say that." All Might responded. Leonard looked back at him quickly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. So don't feel bad, looking at this you got the smarts. You just got to learn to apply them, kid." All Might said, beginning to put the papers away. "You'll fit right in with everybody, I can promise you that." Leonard was feeling better every minute he was in the car with All Might. The guy has such a presence of encouragement, beat every expectation he had of him.

"Thanks All Might." he said, "I'll definitely try my hardest."

"I'm sure you will." All Might said assuringly. There was a pause for a moment between the two of them. Leonard looked out the window again. They had gotten off the freeway, now into more of the city. He could see so many people and buildings that just towered over him. All of them coming from different ways and walks of life. In the midst, he noticed a group of two individuals, patrolling. They weren't policemen in uniform. Heroes.

Before he could get a good look at them All Might spoke up.

"So how is Texas this time of year? It's been years since I've been there." Leonard shivered at the thought of Texas summer weather.

"Really hot and really humid. Not pleasant that's for sure," he replied, trying to think if he ever heard All Might in Texas before. The only association he had known All Might and Texas was his signature 'Texas Smash'.

"I can understand that. The weather today hasn't been too bad. Here's to hoping that it stays like this all summer." All Might replied, looking out the window. "I know Ladian City has grown quite a bit since I have been there, I was honestly surprised when I heard UA was able to get a campus there." All Might continued.

"We all were actually," Leonard added, "I was lucky enough to be able to get in last year."

"You're too hard on yourself kid. If you got into any UA school, you earned that spot." All Might smiled and Leonard mirrored it. He felt like he could tell anything negative to this man and he would turn it around to a positive. This was going to be a good year.

All Might looked behind Leonard out the window, causing him to turn around to look out the window and he couldn't believe his eyes. UA was right there, down the street. It looked massive from the plane but being this close, it was a behemoth. They pulled into the front gate, driving down the pathway. The garden leading up to it was beautiful. Fresh flowers splashing in a menagerie of colors and patterns. The hedge archways were glistening green and the afternoon sun just amplified the stunning view of the campus.

They drove right up to the front of the towering building and took a left. Leonard watched the building, still impressing him. Ladian City had a beautiful campus but nothing could compare to this. Leonard noticed the lack of students or really anyone on the campus. He turned back to face the front to see they were pulling up to the front of the dorms and the first one he saw, he knew was his. 'Class 1-A' inscribed on the front of the U-shaped building, underneath it the word 'Alliance' arched in a gold outline. Pulling onto the wide asphalt road, Shoma parked right up in front of the building and parked.

"Welcome to your new home, Leonard. Heights Alliance." All Might said, smiling as he opened the door to get out. Leonard just kept staring at the building through the windshield for a few more seconds until his door was opened up by Shoma. He was standing there with Leonard's suitcase with a smile. Leonard got out of the car and just looked around. Off in the distance, he could see the training areas, at least the urban one. It was a surreal moment for him, this entire journey has been. Shoma handed his suitcase to him.

"I hope you enjoy your time here at UA, Leonard" Shoma said and gave a quick nod before heading back to the driver's seat or the sedan and driving off. All Might was already at the front door waiting for Leonard. Leonard walked to the door continuously looking around for any signs of life besides the two of them.

"Are we the only ones here?" he asked, "Seems like a ghost town." There weren't any sounds coming from the inside the dorm either.

"No, class 1-A is doing some training in Gym Gamma across campus." He answered, pointing over to the gyms. They looked similar to a warehouse of some kind, rather than a gym. "I was thinking after you get settled I could go introduce you. Your classmates are pretty excited to meet you."

"I'm pretty excited to meet them too, although a bit nervous," Leonard answered a bit shaky. Leonard felt All Might's hand on his shoulder.

"As I said, you'll fit right in, kid." All Might smiled at him. "Now come on, let me show you around." he continued, opening the door into the dorm. Leonard followed behind him and walked into the main lobby. It had couches, a kitchen, tables and everything you could hope for in a college dorm, let alone a high school dorm.

"The bathrooms and showers are that way, split up by gender and over here you got.." All Might went on about the rules and all the things that were present. It was all quite wild what was in this place. Especially the courtyard.

Directly across the entrance, there was a glass door leading to it. It was full of plants and even had its own pond. There was a wooden table out there along with four chairs right by the pond. Just looking at it relaxed him, clearly going to become one of his favorite spots. He walked closer to the window and just stared. Not even hearing All Might anymore.

"... however, I'm sure you're wanting to see your room." Leonard perked up at the sound of his room. "You're up on the 4th floor at the end of the hall. I think you'll be able to find it. When you're ready to head out just come find me down here."

"Yeah, sure thing!" Leonard began to make his way to the stairs, a bit too excited. He could almost hear himself giggling. Walking up the steps dragging his suitcase behind, he couldn't help himself but recap the day he has just had. Not only was he in Musutafu, nor was he just at UA, but he got to meet All Might. No one back at home would ever believe him. Well most of them do know that All Might still, in fact, teaches here. Leonard just couldn't help but laugh at himself. Not only half an hour ago he was literally pissing himself in the presence of All Might.

Nonetheless, Leonard reached the 4th floor. Seeing four doors along the side. Each of them had names by the door. Shoji, Kirishima, and Bakugo. Leonard recognized the last one quite well. He has the exploding hands, the one who had to be chained up at the sports festival. That was a weird event, but he was the winner. He must be pretty good. Moving to the last door, he saw his last name 'Daniels' next to the door. Slowly he walked to the door and opened it up to reveal a dark room. Reaching for where he assumed the light switch was and finding it, he flipped it on.

The room was plain but much larger than what he assumed. There was a bed which had some striped, green sheets on it. A desk sat in the corner next to a dresser. At the very end of the room, there was a curtain, walking up to it revealed it lead out onto a balcony with a view of the rest of the campus. Just like the courtyard, he'd probably find himself here a lot too. There was another door on the side that revealed a closet. Which to his surprise had some clothing hanging on it already. His own UA uniform, all cleaned up and ready for use.

He pulled it out and took a look at it. It was just like the one he had back home. The red tie, gray jacket, and green pants. Not wanting to get his travel stench on it he hung it back in the closet. He checked for anything else that might have been hidden, but to his avail there was nothing.

Looking around at the room again, it was pretty empty. Leonard wished he had brought some more memorabilia from home. He sat on the bed and laid back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling, halfway passed out from the day. The bed was quite comfortable and was a decent size at that too. Leonard looked at his watch, it read 4:19 PM. He did the mental math in his head trying to figure out what time it was back home. Figuring it was about two in the morning or something. It would be a while until his dad woke up. As soon as he put his arm down, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. His phone kept vibrating indicating a call. His phone screen displayed an incoming call from Dad. Instantly he answered the call.

"Dad? Are you seriously awake?" Leonard asked, sitting up against the bed.

"I can't believe it either." His father groggily said with a chuckle. Leonard couldn't help but chuckle as well. "How was the flight? I saw that you landed a few hours ago."

"It was fine for a fourteen-hour plane ride, but you will never guess who came to pick me up from the airport!" Leonard paused for a moment, whether he was waiting for a response or just to be dramatic he couldn't pause for long. "All Might did!" Leonard heard the phone drop. Hoping it was just the phone, soon enough he heard it get picked up again.

"You're kidding?" his father asked. Leonard smiled and shook his head. "That's so cool! What a way to start the school year, am I right?"

"Yeah, I got to ride in the back seat to the school with him. He's such a nice guy, like, you wouldn't believe how freaked out I was when I saw him in the back of the car."

"Oh, I think I can son. How is the place? It's a beautiful campus from what I've seen."

"It's incredible and much bigger than I thought. I'm really excited to start." Leonard said, starting to get up. Thinking he should unpack a bit before heading out. Opening his suitcase up, his father responded.

"I'm excited for you. Your mom would be proud, son." As his father said this, the first thing that he saw in his suitcase was a framed photo. It was a picture of him when he was younger, beside him were his mom and dad. His mom had beautifully long white hair and purple eyes, she was wearing a simple red shirt and some jeans. His dad, on the other hand, was a bigger man with a large mustache and balding hair. He was wearing that horrendous tan Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts that my mom hated. He could clearly tell where he got his features from, even though he had been told that all his life.

They were at the Estess Park in Ladian City, taking family pictures. Shown in the disgusted look on eight-year-old Leonard, he remembers hating to take pictures. But it was only one of the only pictures he had of him and his mom. Leonard walked over to the desk and put it at the corner.

"I know," Leonard said. Taking a final look at the picture and heading back to his suitcase to put away some of the clothing he had.

"So what are you doing for the rest of the day, besides hanging out with All Might?" His father jokingly asked, hearing a pretty loud yawn on the other end. Leonard chuckled.

"Well, besides that I'm just getting some unpacking done in the dorm. After that, All Might is gonna take me to meet the rest of the class. They're off training at some gym on campus."

"How cool. Well listen, son, I don't want to keep you from hanging out with the symbol of peace." Leonard smiled and rolled his eyes.

"And I don't want to keep you from losing your beauty sleep, old man." Leonard heard his father laugh over the phone.

"Fair enough. Love you, son. I'm rooting for you." There was a pause, he looked back at the picture on his desk before replying.

"Thanks, dad, love you too." Leonard smiled and hung up the phone. After putting away the last of his clothing away in the dresser. The room was still as bare as he found it. He'll definitely need to go buy some decorations soon. Leaving his bags behind he exited the room turning the light off on his way out, he closed the door. Making his way back downstairs he made it to the 1st floor and saw All Might sitting on one of the couches, looking at his phone. Leonard walked up to him letting his presence be known. All Might looked over to Leonard and stood up.

"So, what'd you think of your room?" he asked Leonard,

"It's a bit bare, but that's probably my fault for not bringing much to decorate it," he answered. All Might began walking to the door so he followed.

"You got a whole year ahead of you to figure that one out." All Might stopped and stretched a bit in front of the door. "So, you ready to meet your classmates?" he asked. Leonard gave a big breath and looked out the door.

"Let's go meet them."


	2. Chapter 2 - Fitting In

Walking over to Gym Gamma was a further journey than Leonard anticipated. The campus was massive after all. That and he was still facing the consequences of not sleeping on the plane also. To his surprise, he wasn't as tired as he thought he would be. He pictured he would be a zombie droning along just yearning for the sweet, sweet relief of death. But he was able to pay attention for the most part. Not wanting to keep All Might waiting for him by slowing down, Leonard kept up the pace.

They walked right by the front of the main building, and like before the immense size of it was still impressive to him. The four glass towers of this fortress were just a beauty by all architectural means. Nearly touching the clouds from this point of view. Leonard found himself just staring upwards at the large collection of buildings, nearly tripping over himself. He tried to count the number of floors this place had to it. It had to be at least fifteen or sixteen floors, more or less. All Might must have noticed him just staring,

"Have you never seen a tall building before?" he asked. Leonard embarrassed, looked to him.

"No, it's just. UA back at home is nowhere near as large. Maybe a quarter of it." Leonard answered. The UA in Ladian City was impressive by no means. It was arguably better than most of the hero colleges in the entire country. But this here there was really no comparison to anything back him. Granted, this was Ladian City's first year, rather than decades. All Might chuckled,

"Well, this place has been around for some time. It definitely is a lot different looking than when I was here." All Might looked back up at the building, seeming to relive some old memory he may have had. Old people things probably, Leonard simply chuckled to himself. He looked around the main front courtyard and imagined what this place looks like when everyone is here. Students walking to class together, cramming for tests in the dorm, and all the other high schoolers experience. The thought of it made him excited for what was to come.

Eventually, they made their way past the main building and on the trail to the gyms off in the distance. As they got closer and closer to the gym, Leonard felt the butterflies begin to flutter in his stomach. Meeting all of his classmates at once, plus his teacher, what a great scenario.

Leonard remembered the words of All Might, everyone seemed to be pretty excited to meet him. Still, the feeling of 'what if?' ringed throughout his brain. The Symbol of Peace couldn't even stop his social anxiety. He shook his head, attempting to calm himself, while also trying not to be seen by All Might. No matter what happens, they'll be stuck with him for the entire school year. Even if they all hated him, they would still have to work with him. All twenty of them. Wait, he thought, twenty of them?

"Hey, All Might?" Leonard asked, catching up to him. Noticing they were nearly there, maybe 200 feet. All Might looked to him.

"Yeah?" he replied,

"From what I've seen, there are only twenty students in a class. Am I to be the twenty-first? Or…" Leonard asked, continuing to follow All Might.

"We also have a student studying abroad. Young Koji Koda." Leonard tried to remember the name to a face, but couldn't. If he wasn't a finalist at the sports festival then he probably didn't know. "The kid's quirk is he can communicate with animals and give them commands. Pretty neat quirk." Leonard thought it sounded pretty cool also, a lot of good could be done with that.

"Where did he go exactly? The states? Ladian City?" If that were true he was going to be highly disappointed. Well, at least Leonard would be.

"He went to Hanoi, Vietnam." All Might answered,

"Why there, I don't think there is a UA campus in Vietnam?" Leonard asked. It wouldn't make sense to downgrade like that. It wasn't the choice he would make. There must be some sort of special program or agency he got a hold of or something.

"Well, that's because there isn't." All Might answered, almost in a grim way. "He's… well. We'll tell the class at some point about him." He made it sound like the kid died or something. What happened to him? Is he alright? Question after question burned through his mind. "Right now just focus on learning and doing your best, okay?" All Might instructed. Leonard nodded but couldn't help but think about how All Might said that. Hopefully, the news isn't as bad as he made it sound.

Leonard looked up from the ground and noticed that they had just reached the front entrance of the gym. He looked up and noticed it was quite tall too, nearly four stories high. From a distance, it did look like a warehouse with the curved shape of the roof. But now standing in front of the large purple doors it did seem to match most of the aesthetic here.

Inside he could hear small explosions and feel the ground around him tremble with each one. Was it a training or a war zone going on inside? He couldn't tell. All Might put his hand on the door and looked to Leonard, heart racing. Looking back at the door, All Might pushed and opened the door and both of them walked in.

The scent of dust, fire, and sweat immediately hit his nose. The inside was just as large as the outside. The place looked like a large hanger, plenty of space to practice nearly whatever you could think of doing. But the first thing that caught his attention, was his to be classmates.

Leonard saw all of the students wearing their athletic wear, they all seemed to be split up into different groups of three or four and he instantly recognized a few of them. He saw Shoto Todoroki and a few other students he didn't recognize on the far right side of the gym. Todoroki seemed to be shooting flames at them and they were all dodging his attacks quite quickly. He noticed one of the ones dodging was jumping around like a frog, maintaining high jumps to avoid the attacks. The third one in that group seemed to have this large tail that let him eject himself away, pushing himself off the floor.

The entire gym had a thin fog of dust and debris, hurting his eyes a bit. Definitely from every impact made with the concrete floor contributed more and more of it. Leonard didn't even make it five steps in before having to stop and wipe his eyes out.

He scanned the gym and began to recognize many of the students like Midoriya, Bakugo, Tokoyami, and so many others. One would say he was starstruck a bit. All Might was a few steps in front of him and noticed he was walking towards a man in black clothing with long hair and wearing a large scarf around his neck. He quickly caught up to All Might before realizing who it was. Mister Shota Aizawa, his teacher.

Aizawa was facing away from him and All Might. Just his backside gave Leonard the chills. He had heard stories about him being a pretty tough instructor. All he knew for sure is that he was a pretty boring commentator for the sports festival. Other than that, the guy was a mystery to him. They got about twenty feet away before Aizawa turned around to meet them. His eyes as baggy as ever met Leonard's, giving even more reasons to be spooked by him. The man looked like he had been running on nothing but, well, nothing.

"Mister Aizawa," All Might began. "This here is Leonard Daniels, your new exchange student." Leonard smiled the best he could, Aizawa didn't. Leonard tried to make the best out of it.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. It's an honor to be here." Leonard extended his hand to shake Aizawa's. Aizawa just continued to stare at him, Leonard could feel the sweat beginning to build upon his forehead. The stare lasted for what felt like hours before Aizawa slowly put his hand out to meet him and shook it. Leonard breathed out and released his hand.

"So, you're Koda's replacement?" Aizawa asked him, staring him up and down. Off put by the question Leonard met his gaze. So much so All Might shuffled at the wording of the question.

"I guess so?" Leonard answered, unsure if it was the right answer or not. Aizawa grunted and turned around to face the students. There was some silence between all of them in the midst of combat going on around them.

"If they sent you here instead of moving up someone from 1-B, then you better be good," Aizawa warned. Leonard gulped at his tone. He couldn't tell if he was angry or tired or both. He felt like this man was going to be a mystery all year round if he made it that far. Silence picked up between the two of them again.

"He's got quite a record," All Might spoke up, "He's got great test scores, has a great quirk and has the drive of these students." All Might was about to continue before Aizawa cut him off, keeping his eyes on his students.

"I've read your record, Daniels." There was sternness to his voice. "You lack a lot of practical skills and you barely got your provisional license by the grit of your teeth. I know many students in class 1-B who possibly deserve your spot." He turned around to face Leonard, scared again of this man. If this is how things were going to be all year, Leonard didn't know if he wanted to face that at all. He obviously had his standards, and for good reason. He knew his limits and he knew his shortcomings.

Leonard looked up at All Might, he had a serious look in his eye at Aizawa. It wasn't anger, nor was it regret. It was understanding. There were many people more talented than he was, Leonard knew that.

"However," Aizawa stated. Leonard lifted his head. "If they assigned you to me, they must see something in you. Prove me wrong, show me that you deserve to be in my class." The sudden shift in attitude lifted his spirits enough but knew he had a lot to prove being here. Leonard nodded.

"I won't let you down, sir," Leonard promised. Aizawa just stared at him, emotionless. Leonard did get a sense of 'we'll see' out of Aizawa. He knew he would have to work harder than anybody else here to just prove his worth.

"That went about as expected." All Might awkwardly chuckled. Leonard looked over to All Might, obviously feeling a bit bad for the situation. Leonard would have been mad if he weren't the symbol of peace, but nonetheless, it happened. "We just came from the dorms, Leonard was hoping he could meet his classmates." Leonard was but wasn't at the same time. He didn't want to intrude on their training at all.

Aizawa looked back at the students, they seemed pretty worn out. There were some still at it, attacking one another and finding some way to avoid the attack, or in some cases not avoid it. Many of them were standing around seeming to catch their breath.

"We still have another hour of training," Aizawa said, giving Leonard a bit of relief. Putting off conversations until later. This could give him time to prepare his speech of who he is and where he's from. Go over all of his accomplishments and successes, making sure he had the right dates and times. It would be perfect. "But they have worked hard, so, I guess an early dismissal seems appropriate given the circumstances." Aizawa glared with a smile at Leonard. If this guys quirk was twisting a person's intestines inside out, then it was working as intended.

"Well, I mean, you don't have to end their training early if it's important," Leonard said, attempting to play it off. Aizawa was turning around away from him, deception check failed.

"Everyone," Aizawa yelled, getting the attention from everyone. The noise of war, the shuffling of concrete all stopped and all nineteen students looked their way. Leonard attempted to scoot behind All Might, but he had already walked up to Aizawa's side. Leonard was out in the open. "Take a breather and group up over here, you got a new classmate who's wanting to meet all of you." Both Aizawa and All Might scooted out of the rest of the students way to see Leonard standing there. All eyes were on him.

A moment of silence came upon the room as he felt everyone's cold stare for a solid second. Sweat was building on his temple, and he forced a smile on his face, hoping this would end soon.

"Oh isn't he the guy from America?" Leonard heard a male voice come from the left. He turned to see a familiar green haired boy walking up to him. He looked like he had rolled down a mountain, scuffs, and bruises along his face. He knew who he was, what was his name again? Leonard noticed everyone else began to make their way towards him.

"Hi, my name is Izuku Midoriya," the green haired kid extended his hand out to Leonard, "It's nice to meet you." Leonard now recognizing Midoriya. He remembered now the explosive battle him and the Todoroki guy had.

"Oh yeah, that's right! I remember you from the sports festival!" Leonard said to Midoriya shaking his hand. He was shorter than he expected, he may have grown a bit since then. Midoriya was about to say something until swiftly someone appeared beside him. A tall blue haired guy who with the same velocity bowed at an exact 90-degree angle.

"And I am Tenya Iida, as the class representative of class 1-A, it is an honor to welcome you," he said, his glasses reflecting the light from the sun outside. Leonard didn't really remember seeing him in the festival, not wanting to offend he didn't bring it up.

"It's nice to meet both of you, my name is Leonard Daniels." Leonard bowed back before getting bombarded by the rest of the class. Each of them gave their name and some shook his hands. It was strange how nice all of them were. Being American, he knew he was going to have trouble remembering all their native names. But he pledged to himself to try his best.

They were all so, diverse and different looking. Back at home there definitely was some but not of this level. There was a girl that was pink, with yellow horns. Or the guy with six limbs. There was even a girl that was fully invisible. It was definitely a breath of fresh air for him.

He couldn't help but notice all but one student introduced themselves or at least said 'Hi' was the winner of the sports festival, Bakugo. Behind the crowd, Leonard saw that he was staring away, almost angrily. Arms crossed and all. Leonard didn't want to start a problem so he let it go and continued to introduce himself to the rest of the class. The last of the class eventually made their way to join the group and he was soon surrounded by an entourage. Most of them again were very friendly and it allowed him to relax a little. All Might was so far, right. With time, he'll fit right in.

Just as he was finishing introducing himself with Mashirao Ojiro, the one with the tail, Leonard felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a girl with shoulder-length hair and bright pink cheeks smiling at him. Part of her hair had two clumps on each side and it would have looked good if it wasn't a complete mess. But all in all she seemed friendly just looking at her.

"Hiya, my name is Ochaco Uraraka." she introduced herself as she smiled, eyes closed. "It's really great to meet you. It's really exciting to have a new student here," she said extending her hand out. Leonard liked her energy, she seemed really friendly. He shook her hand.

"It's a pleasure to be here." He smiled, attempting to match her level of friendliness.

"So how long are going to be here? A month or?" she asked.

"Daniels here will be joining you for the whole school year." All Might answered. All of the attention shifted towards him. "He comes from the class 1-A at the UA in Ladian City, he's a pretty strong student." Leonard felt his cheeks brighten a bit. No need to lie on his behalf. But the compliment didn't hurt.

"Ladian City?" Midoriya asked, "Where is that at?"

"It's in Texas, the northern part of it," Leonard answered, surely they would know where Texas is. It appeared most of them did.

"Is it true?" he heard a voice that sounded like someone had to blow their nose or something. He looked down to see the purple-haired student, Mineta. Looking up at him with heart eyes, and he could have sworn he saw some drool sneaking out of his mouth.

"Is what true?" Leonard asked, unsure if he was liking where this was going. The faces of the rest of the class did not ring much hope. All of them were wincing.

"That… that everything is bigger?" Out of all the questions about Texas to ask, this is the first one he chose to ask.

"Well, I suppose? We have big cars, big food and…"

"Big boobies?" Mineta cut him off. Silencing him. But from the silence, a sound so loud and so sharp was the sound of one of the girl's hands crossing his face. The impact hit him so hard he was knocked back nearly fifteen feet. The attacker was the girl he had come to know as Kyoka Jiro. Her earlobes had 3.5-millimeter jacks on the end with short purple hair. And she looked pissed, but instantly gratified right after. This definitely wasn't the first instance of this.

"Shut it you pervert!" She yelled at the half-conscious, twitching body of Mineta lying in the concrete. Everyone seemed relieved by the heroic act of Jiro, while Leonard stood there silently. What a group of characters, he thought to himself. Leonard felt that there wouldn't be any more questions about Texas for the time being. At least they didn't think he rode horses everywhere.

"So, Leonard," Midoriya spoke up from the silence. "What's your quirk? I've been trying to think what it is ever since we've heard about you." He asked. Leonard noticed that everyone piped up at his question, that would be his first one to a new student.

"Well, I can teleport myself and other things to a certain distance," Leonard answered,

"Wow, that sounds awesome." Midoriya gleamed, everyone else mostly had the same reaction.

"Yeah, I can teleport myself about fifteen feet in a single teleport, small objects I can teleport up to about thirty feet and other people about ten." When Leonard said this, most of the other students who were skeptical at first seemed to be more interested now. Everyone's attention was back to him.

"How about you shut your mouth and just show us?" Leonard heard a voice come from the back, and he knew who it was. Bakugo began to walk towards the front of the group, towards Leonard. Everyone made way for him to get through. It was honestly intimidating, Leonard backed up.

"Woah, I didn't me-" Leonard noticed Bakugo's right hand was glowing a blazing orange. He guessed where this was about to go.

"If you think you can just walk into this class without proving yourself to me, you're wrong. Damn you!" Suddenly Bakugo swung his right hand up to Leonard's face. Leonard has seen his power at the festival and knows its destructive power. Time slowed down for Leonard at that moment. He noticed the faces of the students being shocked, some expecting it. He looked at All Might and Aizawa, they did nothing, not even a twitch. There was no way of stopping this.

The face of Bakugo was full of something. Frustration? Anger? Hate? No knowing. Thinking quickly, he focused and looked to the right of him. A flash of purple surrounded Leonard, disappearing and reappearing fifteen feet to the right of Bakugo in flash, right as he released an explosive blast where Leonard once was. The blast shook the vicinity. He wasn't holding back much, if at all.

Everyone looked over to where Leonard reappeared, his eyes glowing a brighter hue of purple. Heart racing and standing in a defensive position not knowing if Bakugo was going to attack again. He watched him stand there for a moment staring him down, steam emanating from his palms. Bakugo twitched and began to run at Leonard. Leonard prepared another warp to avoid the oncoming attack but Bakugo's arm was caught by Aizawa, his hair floating and eyes glowing red. The scarf that he wore held back Bakugo's arm, stopping him from aggressing.

"Stand down, Bakugo." Bakugo looked up frustrated at Aizawa. Both exchanged looks before Bakugo jerked his hand from him and walked towards the back of the group where he was previously.

"Bunch of damn nerds, all of you!" The words felt like they hurt to say. There was something else going on. Leonard relaxed watching Bakugo before slowly and silently making his way back to the now silent class. Aizawa's hair floated back down to normal and laid comfortably over his shoulders.

"We're going to go ahead and call it a day." Everyone gave a breath of relief. "Take the weekend to rest your bodies and minds, because Monday is where we shift into full gear. Dismissed." Aizawa turned around and began to walk towards the door. A few students began to slowly make their way out, including Bakugo. Leonard just stood there watching him leave, he knew he was a hot head but to see it was something else. All Might approached Leonard; Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida followed.

"Nearly been seventeen hours without sleep and you were able to dodge an attack like that, good job." All Might congratulated.

"Honestly, sorry about that Leonard." Midoriya apologized, scratching the back of his head. "He's the only one who can really get like that."

"Did I do something to offend him? I'll apologize if that's the case," he asked. Bakugo just now leaving the gym. Iida spoke up,

"I don't think that will do much help, unfortunately. That's just him, he strives to be the best like all of us do. He's just a bit more aggressive, perhaps. He's like that to everyone." Leonard felt that he was one of those heroes that think they're better than everyone. Hopefully, he'll get things straightened out. "Plus it doesn't make things better that he failed to get his provisional license."

"Really? I thought he was one of the strongest here." Leonard questioned,

"He may be." All Might said, "But pure strength doesn't equal being a hero. Both he and young Todoroki failed to get their licenses." Leonard didn't understand, the two winners of the sports festival were the only two failures of their license. The test here must have been extremely rigid.

"I guess I can understand, it must be frustrating." Leonard sympathized.

"They'll both get a chance to take the test again next month," All Might explained, "I know they'll pass and be ready for the Hero-Work Studies."

"Yeah, so don't worry about it," Uraraka said, "By the way, your quirk is so cool."

"Your quirk certainly is impressive," Iida complimented.

"Honestly, it seems really handy." Midoriya also complimented.

Leonard a bit embarrassed by the sudden barrage of compliments, so much so he felt his cheeks grow warm. Leonard thanked them and they stood around for a moment before they realized they were the only ones left in the gym. The orange colored sky bleeding through the upper windows. Leonard felt his stomach began to rumble, it must have been hours since his last meal on the plane. Without such words, all of them began to make their way outside the gym, the same black sedan was out there and so was Shoma. He stood there smiling as he saw them all exit. All Might turned to the four of them.

"Well, I'll see you kids in class this week," he said. Leonard felt like a little kid being dropped off at school for the first time, his dad about to leave him with strangers for six hours. "Take Aizawa's words to heart, get some rest, the real work begins Monday." Everyone just watched as All Might stepped into the black sedan. Leonard waved goodbye, so did All Might.

"Hey, I think Sato was saying earlier he was making sukiyaki for dinner tonight," Uraraka stated. Leonard didn't even know what that was and still, his mouth watered. She could have mentioned he was making a sandwich made out of cardboard and he would have been exciting. According to the responses of Iida and Midoriya, it seemed it was going to be delicious.

"Are you serious? What are we standing around here for?" Iida then proceeded to walk ahead of the group making the rest of them catch up. The rest of them laughed for a bit before starting to catch up with him.

"Wait up Iida, don't pass out on the way there!" Midoriya yelled at him.

From the brief moments he's known this class, Leonard felt like he was in the right place. He just hoped he could keep up and prove to Aizawa that he is meant to be here. Looking ahead, he made his way to the dorms, and hopefully some good food too.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Final Days of Summer

Leonard expected there would be challenges going into UA. Physical challenges, mental challenges, even emotional challenges from every angle imaginable. He had done the best he could to make sure he would overcome these challenges. But this, this challenge was different. Eating with chopsticks.

He didn't even know what sukiyaki was beforehand. But staring at the bowl in front of him on the table, the warm steam drifting into his face. The scent alone of freshly made sukiyaki made his mouth water. The smell of freshly cooked and seasoned beef was heavenly. Luckily it was enough to mask his sweaty classmates which had a presence of its own. He just wished he knew how to use these damn chopsticks, knowingly holding them incorrectly.

What was he going to do? Embarrass himself by attempting to use these things? He would spill food all over the table and himself like a child. He wished he had remembered to bring a fork from home or take one of the plastic ones he had on the plane. But he just sat there and stared, while he listened and watched the others eat.

Most of the class was here at this table, which was really just four tables put together creating one massive table. Both Kaminari and Mineta were eating on the couch behind him. They were watching some sort of cartoon that had a lot of skimpily dressed women in it. He could hear Mineta giggling every three seconds. Judging by Jiro's face across from him, she wasn't pleased with the channel choice. Nobody was he imagined. Bakugo, Todoroki, and Tokoyami were all missing from the table, assuming they were in their rooms. Leaving the rest of the class at the table, thoroughly enjoying their meal. At least most of them were.

"Sato, you have outdone yourself once again," Iida said enthusiastically, his mouth half full. At the end of the table, Sato smiled.

"Thanks, I've been wanting to make this dish for a while now. I'm happy with how it turned out." Everyone else seemed to have the same response, chowing down and some even nearly finished. Leonard's stomach growled angrily at him, internally he blamed the chopsticks.

"Is everything okay?" Midoriya, sitting to the left of Leonard, asked him. "You haven't even taken a bite of your food." Most of the table's attention was on Leonard.

"Is there something wrong with your dish? Undercooked or something?" Sato seemed concerned, looking over at his bowl.

"Oh no, not at all! It's just," Leonard hung his head low, embarrassed, "I don't know how to use chopsticks." He scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, well why didn't you say something?" Uraraka who was sitting to his right grabbed his chopsticks and offered them to him. He took them from her. "It's really not too difficult." She then started to adjust his hand and showed him how to hold them properly.

"Remember, you're talking to someone who's been using forks for most of his life," Leonard replied, getting a small chuckle from the table. Uraraka laughed and continued to adjust his hand until she was happy with it. She removed her hands and it looked like he had it right. Clicking them together, he smiled, that wasn't too bad.

Leonard thanked her, happy he could now finally eat. She smiled back with a nod. The rest of the table went back into conversation while Leonard with his newfound ability to use chopsticks began to down his entire meal. It was delicious. It tasted exactly like something you would eat in a 5-star restaurant, a symphony in his mouth. The mix of the ingredients, even though he couldn't name half of them, blended so well. He wondered why this guy doesn't just start a restaurant.

While he was eating, he noticed Midoriya's right arm. He didn't notice it earlier somehow but it was covered in scars, bad ones. Not like training bruises that go away in a few days, more like someone had torn his arm in four different places scars. Not to mention his hand was as bad if not worse than his arm. The bone structure chipped and almost deformed. It was kind of horrifying if he was being honest. But, he didn't want to ask, it could have been something really personal. He looked back at his half-empty bowl and continued to eat.

"So, Leonard," Tsu a few chairs down said, he looked to her. "I'm curious, how different is the UA back home to this one?"

"Yeah, seriously, ours has got to be the better one am I right?" Ashido asked at the other end of the table. Leonard chuckled, a question he expected eventually,

"For starters, this one is much bigger by a lot. We really only have maybe a hundred students." They all seemed pretty surprised by that.

"Only a hundred? Do you have any dorms on the school grounds?" Yaoyorozu asked. Leonard shook his head, finishing off the last of his food. He pushed his bowl away from him, satisfied by the meal.

"Not yet, I think they were talking about adding them along with the expansion plans for the campus next year. But I don't think there is a huge need for them at the moment." He paused for a moment, looking around inspecting the lobby. He imagined what it would be like next year if they did have these there. "I can't wait until we get these back home, it must be pretty cool to be able to see each other all the time, not just during school hours."

"It certainly is très divin," Aoyama said, Leonard hardly understood what it was. Was it French?

"We are able to get together much easier than before. Granted we are only a few steps away." Ojiro said,

"That will solve a lot of problems back home for sure, planning studies together are a nightmare," Leonard admitted,

"It is pretty nice." Midoriya said, "But we didn't get these under the greatest of circumstances. It became a requirement for us." Leonard leaned back in his chair.

"This was after the whole summer camp thing a few months ago, right?" The whole table nodded quietly. "I can't imagine what that was like, I'm glad everything turned out alright," Leonard said, looking at Midoriya who was rubbing his right arm.

"We all are." Shoji, the six-armed student said, "It is something I don't wish to experience again anytime soon." He sounded calm in his speech, but there was a hint of fear in there too. Kirishima all of a sudden slammed his hand on the table, bending it a bit. His fist had hardened.

"The League of Villains are gonna pay," Kirishima said angrily, his teeth ground, "Every last one of them will be behind bars, I can promise you that." Everyone was in agreement.

"Yeah, next time they see us they're going to regret it!" Ashido stood up from her seat proclaiming.

"Right!" Everyone at the table said in agreeance.

Leonard felt a rush go down his spine, a rush of inspiration. It seemed nothing was going to put these guys down. He yearned for that confidence, hopefully, he'd find that here.

The table calmed down after a moment and went back to normal conversation. Leonard just sat and listened, finding himself closing his eyes and nearly nodding off to sleep. He had to shake his head a few times before eventually deciding sleep was imminent or he was going to right here and now. A few others must have felt the same as one by one his classmates began to head off to their rooms, wishing everyone good night. Until there were only a few of them still in the lobby. Ashido, Iida, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Leonard were the only ones left in the now quiet dining area. Leonard stood up from the table with his empty bowl and walked over to the sink to wash it, seeing that everyone else did the same.

"So what is everyone doing for the weekend? Anything exciting?" Ashido asked the remaining students. They all looked at each other expecting someone to have something.

"I just plan on sleeping in all weekend," Uraraka answered, "Who knows when I'll be able to do that again during the year." Most of the table nodded, acknowledging their own weariness.

"What about you Leonard?" Ashido asked. Leonard was just turning the sink off.

"I was thinking about getting some stuff for my room. It's a bit too bare for my taste." He answered, walking back to the table. Ashido perked up at his reply.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, "Do you know where you're going to go?"

"I have no idea honestly. I don't know of any stores in the area." He admitted, scratching his head.

"There is the Kiyashi mall not too far from here. That place has everything." Ashido suggested. Leonard thought that would be his best bet. Already having not a clue what he was wanting to use to decorate.

"Yeah, that sounds great. It should be pretty fun to explore the city a bit." Leonard answered It shouldn't be hard to find out how to get there. It was his next question but Ashido stood up from her chair.

"Hey, if you're going to the mall I'll join you. Beats sticking around here all weekend." Ashido exclaimed. Leonard felt a flutter in his stomach, just him and a girl alone at the mall. Never had this happened before. Truly this was a cruel trick of the aether.

"Are we going to the mall?" Just then from the couch nearby, a messy-haired Kaminari poked from behind it. He might as well have screamed his question, it made ever. He looked like he had just woken up from a nap of a lifetime, his right eye still shut. The half-conscious Kaminari shook his head wildly, "Because, if so count me in!" Leonard released a breath of relief, no way he could embarrass himself alone now. Ashido had a big grin on her face, she pointed at the other three.

"What about you three? You should totally join us!" Ashido squeed. Uraraka was the first to speak.

"Definitely, it's been a while since the last time we were there. I didn't even get a chance to shop for anything."

"Yeah same, I'll go with you guys," Midoriya replied,

"I think a day out with you all is well deserved. I shall join you as well." Iida said. Ashido shook excitingly.

"This is going to be great! Hopefully this time we don't run into any trouble like last time."

Leonard's ears perked up.

"Last time?" he asked,

"The League of Villains were there." Midoriya answered, "Well at least one of them, the one who led the attack on USJ."

Leonard remembered the news about the attack. All Might had to come in and protect the students. To most, it was the starting point of the people losing faith in UA.

"I'm sure he wouldn't go to the same place twice, right?" Leonard asked, it only made sense. Midoriya sat on it for a moment, thinking before answering.

"Yeah, I think so. There shouldn't be anything to worry about."

"It would be wise for all of us to stay together tomorrow. No one goes off on their own. Just in case something does happen tomorrow." Iida proposed. The entire table seemed to agree, no objections to his idea. The table went silent for a second before Ashido broke it.

"Well, everyone should go get some sleep. I'll see you all at 9 AM sharp!" Kaminari's face dropped, shaking his head back to a normal look of confusion.

"9 AM?" Kaminari questioned, "We can't just leave a little later? Get a bit more of that sweet, sweet beauty sleep?" Ashido had already begun to make her way towards the stairs, practically skipping. She turned around and winked,

"You can, but we'll already be gone by then." Ashido giggled before leaving the lobby up to her room. Kaminari sighed, he sluggishly waved good night and slumped his way up the stairs. The clock read "7:32 PM" so getting some catch-up sleep was still very possible. Kaminari's sleep schedule must be whacked if that was the case. Wanting to get as much sleep as possible, Leonard began to make his way to the stairs. He waved goodnight to everyone and walked up to the stairs, passing Kaminari who was still slumped over.

Reaching the fourth floor, he found it empty and quiet. The moonlight peeked through the skylight over the balcony of the fourth floor, giving the space a cool, blue tint. He had to stop and admire it, everything just looked so pretty here in Japan. Maybe that was just the inner tourist in him. Perhaps he should be wearing that Hawaiian shirt. He chuckled to himself until he finally felt the weariness of not sleeping on the plane hit him like a bat. Mimicking Kaminari, he felt his shoulders and knees began to sag.

Yawning, he mustered the strength to get to the end of the hallway to his room. He shook the doorknob dead fish style and fell straight down onto the welcoming arms of his bed. The smell of the freshly washed linens was hypnotic like he just landed on a fresh wash of laundry. It felt warm and comforting. The mattress like a cloud, the perfect sleeping conditions. As if stars aligned.

He didn't even bother changing out of his travel clothes. It was too much work at this point. Luckily he did remember to set an alarm on his phone. Also, he somehow managed to get the charger plugged in. Having to stretch in some uncomfortable positions to reach the outlet feeling like a yoga master while doing so. Until finally, all was right with the world and Leonard felt himself drift off into the realms of sleep.

Or at least he tried to. No matter how many twists and turns, adjusting the sheets, or even sticking one foot out of the covers helped him get any more comfortable than he already wasn't. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he gave up and stared at the blank ceiling. Was it the excitement that was keeping him up? He is at UA, the place where want-to-be heroes dream of being.

It wasn't that, his nerves were gone. The scary and exciting parts were gone for now. At least until the first day of classes, it would be. Just thinking about the first day made him shiver. Damnit. All he could see was the disappointed eyes of Aizawa. Having him for a teacher was going to be hell more than likely. But even that wasn't it now. Hell, it could have just been him thinking about what it was he was thinking about. Sleep deprivation is a funny thing.

Not being able to fall asleep he replayed the day back in his head. Arriving at the airport in Ladian City, fourteen-hour flight, landing, etc. Meeting All Might was pretty cool, he got to tour some parts of the campus, meet his classmates which everyone seemed to be cool. Except for that Bakugo guy, he seemed like a problem. Coming to realize what was keeping him awake. Koda. He sat up, looking through the darkness down at his bed. This could have been Koda's bed for all he knew. The thought made him shiver.

He remembered the conversation with All Might. His tone, his facial expression. What terrible thing must have happened that they're keeping it from the students? Why hasn't anyone even asked about him yet? Questions that literally kept him awake. Hopefully, all of this is just one big misunderstanding and that he just decided not to return to UA for some reason. But why? There it is again. Another question. Vietnam wasn't a well-known place for heroes to go or come out of. Which was normal for most other countries that weren't Japan or the States.

Leonard grabbed his phone, the time read "10:12 PM" and he was nowhere near asleep. He couldn't take it anymore, slapping his face he turned over once again. Trying his hardest to somehow fall asleep amidst the chaos scrambling in his brain. Repeatedly he told himself that all would be resolved and it would all make sense soon. It eventually worked and then drifted off to sleep.

Morning came, his alarm made sure of it. Stalks of white hair covered his eyes initially, blocking most of the light that came through the window behind him. He did feel rested for the most part but still couldn't forget the first few hours trying to sleep the night before. But if he had a dream, he certainly couldn't remember it. Nonetheless, he got up from the bed and turned off his alarm. Stretching his arms he opened the curtains to outside, blinding his fresh eyes to the outside world. The blurry vision soon cleared to see the main building. Still beautiful as yesterday. He smiled, thanking the universe that he was still here and began to prepare for the day.

After grabbing some clothes and his toiletries from his dresser he walked downstairs to the showers. The journey there was pretty quiet, as expected. When he reached the base of the stairs, an aroma of something heavenly hit his nostrils. Breakfast. Quickening his pace, he arrived in the lobby to see a pink student, Ashido at the stove. She was wearing very casual clothing, a yellow t-shirt and some jean shorts. He recognized the smell of eggs for sure but some other things that weren't familiar. Ashido turned around as he was inspecting, obviously hearing him.

"Good morning!"

"Morning," he tried to veer his head to see what all was there. To his surprise, there was only just the eggs. "What are you making there?" he asked, just to be sure.

"Just some eggs, it's really the only thing I kind of know how to do. So I hope you like them scrambled."

"You cooking for everyone?"

"Trying to, I think I may have burned a few. But I still got," she turned around and counted the remaining eggs in the carton. "Four more to try!"

Leonard let out a small chuckle.

"Well, good luck!" he said, walking towards the shower. Ashido excitingly went back to making her eggs.

The bathrooms smelled like a soap store. Leonard found himself breathing in more just walking in. He was alone so it was okay to be weird. But his stomach was calling to him so he quickly jumped in the stall showers and rinsed off yesterday's travel grime and sweat. The water was the perfect temperature, it was refreshing. He felt fully awakened and revitalized for the day.

During his shower, he heard the others walk into the bathrooms. Each of them greeted one another with a simple 'good morning' or 'hey'. All of them eventually got in the shower, and each of them had to hear Kaminari's singing. As expected, he did finish first and got dressed, hair combed and fixed, and smelling fresh for the day. Speedily he ran upstairs to put away his things before rushing back down to the table where his somewhat burned breakfast was waiting for him. Ashido was already sitting at the table, so was Uraraka. None of the guys, just the girls. Wonderful.

Leonard sat down at the table in the same seat he was last night, which was thankfully a few chairs away from the girls, and grabbed a plate of food. Ashido and Uraraka were already talking about some of the shops they were wanting to go visit and new places that just popped up. Leonard sat silently and ate. The eggs were a bit overcooked and there was no seasoning. He did his best to imagine that this was Sato's cooking, but no thought was strong enough to fix the taste. Nonetheless, food is still food.

Eventually, the other three guys made their way to the table around 8:45 rushing breakfast into their mouths. Judging by their facial expressions, they had the same amount of appreciation for the taste of the eggs as he did. They all finished their food within fifteen minutes and were out the door.

The day was just as nice as yesterday, cool breeze and comfortable temperatures. The sun was shining on the blue canvas of a sky and was a welcoming atmosphere. All of them made their way down the road until they reached the outside of the school grounds.

Musutafu was bustling with activity already, perhaps not as much as yesterday but still bustling. The streets were full of cars bumper to bumper, many civilians walking the streets alone or in a company. All of this at 9 in the morning was pretty unusual to Leonard. He would have expected that it would be like this in a few hours but his expectations were subverted.

"So are we walking there again or are we going to take the bus?" Kaminari asked, clearly not caught up with the morning. The bags in his eyes giving it away.

Ashido, leading the group turned around.

"I'm okay with walking, it's such a beautiful day to not enjoy it!" There was an audible sigh from Kaminari. "Come on Kaminari, it really isn't that long of a walk,"

"It is when you barely had any sleep last night."

"What time did you even go to bed? You should have gotten plenty of rest." Iida asked. Kaminari just grunted and continued on, not even answering the question. Leonard just chuckled to himself and kept looking at the city. Towering buildings on both sides of him. Some of the buildings all had that greyish blue tint to the brick and glass while others just had every color imaginable. The city had a good mix of shapes and colors that it was different enough to feel new, but it was similar enough to Ladian City that it felt somewhat like home.

The group traveled through the city for what seemed like twenty minutes until they were met with a large arched sign that read 'Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall'. Leonard was blown away by the pure size of the building. It seemed to stretch for maybe a half mile in a serpentine-like shape. Three stories high with multiple bridges to cross over, you could spend a whole week here and still be looking at different stores. It was also really busy, nothing too unexpected being a Saturday morning. Plenty of stores and inner city attractions were always like this on the weekends back home. But it still amazed him nonetheless.

"Wow, this is massive," Leonard said, continuing their way into the actual mall.

"Don't tell me you don't have a mall where you're from," Ashido exclaimed Leonard, chuckled.

"Not any this big that is, this is incredible."

In a few minutes, they found themselves on the mall grounds. There were stores for all kinds of people, just entering there was a menagerie of options. There were clothes for big frames, small frames even if you multiple limbs or if your head was square shaped it was here. It was loud here, many different conversations just bleeding into one another creating this wall of just sound.

"Alright, so Leonard what's the first thing on your list? I assume it's going to be a pretty big list." Ashido asked, assuming leadership.

"Well, I don't really have a list," he admitted. He looked all throughout the store, it was overwhelming. "Besides that, I don't even have a clue where to even start."

"Don't worry, we're all here to help out, right?" Uraraka asked everyone else.

"Yeah, we don't want your room to be bare and empty for the whole year," Ashido answered Leonard laughed awkwardly.

"Well, I wouldn't want to drag all of you around the entire day. I'm sure I could find out what I need on my own," he said, scratching his head.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, as we agreed earlier we need to stick together just in case we have another run in. So regardless you're stuck with us." Iida replied, assuring him.

Leonard agreed, as did the rest of the party. He thanked them and they began to make their way through the maze of a mall. He tried to count how many different shops and stores there were, he couldn't even find an estimate that would come even close to the true amount. Nonetheless, they went through a lot of shops.

For the most part, everyone was very helpful when it came to picking things out for his room. Even though all of them had very different ideas at times on what to get. Ashido showed him a bunch of designers, brand-name items that were way above his price range (and probably hers too) while Uraraka showed him simpler things that cost a fraction of Ashido's recommendations. Especially when it came to picking out rugs and covers for the beds.

Midoriya helped him get some decorative stuff, a few posters of some of the top heroes in Japan. Kaminari was pretty adamant on him getting the slightly obscene poster of Mt. Lady. Leonard declined that offer. Iida did take him by a bookstore to get a few things that might help him out. It was some interesting topics, and something he may actually use. Too bad everyone else wanted to leave rather quickly as they grew bored pretty quickly.

Overall, the day of shopping was going by rather quickly. Luckily, they managed to get quite a lot of things for Leonard's room. The telling sign was the amount of bags he was holding by noon. Hopefully, he didn't spend too much on his father's credit card, but he did say get what you need.

During their shopping, they found themselves on the third floor. Kaminari pointed out an ad earlier, that showed a sale on some really expensive headphones or something. Leonard didn't recognize the brand but most of the group seemed interested in going. He did feel guilty for most of the time they were following him around. Hardly any of them had made any purchases while they were here while he was carrying around an entire bedroom with him. Ashido was the only other one than him who made a purchase, and it was just on chapstick at the bookstore.

Coming to the shop, there were flashy red and yellow signs that read, "SUPER SALE EXTRAVAGANZA! UP TO 80% OFF ON SELECTED ITEMS!" it gave Leonard a headache. The store seemed to be one of those infamous resale shops, except it did look a lot nicer than some of those shops. Glass cases showing off different tech from laptops to keyboards with ungodly price drops.

Kaminari sprinted ahead of the group into the store.

"Oh boy, give me my 80 percent off on those headphones!"

"Oh man, they have a sale on everything? I have to see this!" Ashido ran inside, tailing Kaminari.

"Hey, wait up guys!" Midoriya pleaded, running inside too. Iida visibly fuming, yelled at them while following,

"Whatever happened to us sticking together? We are not following the protocol of which we had established earlier! And Kaminari, don't you already have like 5 pairs of headphones already?" Iida followed behind. Leonard and Uraraka kept walking at a normal pace, laughing at the outrageous behavior of their classmates.

"Are you going to go take a look? Those TV prices aren't too bad." Uraraka asked,

"It sure is tempting but, I don't think I need anything else. Plus, I'm pretty sure I maxed out my dad's credit card." Leonard joked, or at least he hoped he did. "What about you?"

"Oh no, I don't think so. I already have everything I need for the year," she answered, walking over to the edge of the balcony. Leonard followed and placed his bags down next to him, his hands thanked him. Both of them looked over the edge, it was just as high as it looked. Nothing scary or anything, just three stories high is still a long way down.

People watching is something Leonard found himself doing a lot lately. It was interesting the kinds of people you overlook when you don't pay attention to it. But looking down he just saw a blend of colors and figures. The place had gotten more and more busy with the few hours they were there. He switched his attention to the horizon and gazed at the cityscape of Tokyo. It was very similar to Musutafu, but it was still impressive. Before he could deeply distract himself in the view, Uraraka started a conversation, nearly forgetting she was there.

"So, Leonard, what do you think of Japan so far?" he turned around to meet her eye to eye. Putting his back against the railing.

"So far so good I think." he answered, "I have to say Japan is really a beautiful country."

"I'm glad you think so, I could stare at the mountains all day," Uraraka replied

"Same here, it's quite the contrast from Ladian City."

"Really, how so?"

"I mean, we don't have that many large hills and greenery back there. Just a lot of buildings and corporate offices." To be fair, there were parks and rural areas outside the city. Just to him, they aren't too memorable.

"That's most of this part of Japan anyway, it doesn't sound so much different," Uraraka replied,

"I guess I should say there aren't really many interesting places in the city. Everything is just bland compared to here." Leonard was starting to think he was sounding edgy, trying to play it cool. He hoped she wasn't catching on.

"Well, what are some of the few?" she asked, Leonard, curled his brow. "You said there aren't many, so what are some of the few interesting places." Leonard couldn't tell if she was seeing through his lie or genuinely asking.

"Um, well, for starters there is the Hall of Heroes downtown," he answered,

"Let me guess, is that a place for famous heroes or something?" she asked, leaning into the question. She seemed certain she was correct. Leonard smiled.

"That's exactly what it is. It's where the most famous heroes of Texas are immortalized forever." Leonard noticed her excitement, he definitely was getting pumped about it. It had been a while since he had last gone, he pictured the large museum, with the stone statues out front of many of the heroes. Remembering the times as a child he visited there.

"That does sound really cool actually, we have something similar to that. Maybe we could all go check it out sometime?" she asked, Leonard genuinely felt excited.

"That would be awesome actually. I can't remember the last time I've been to a hero museum. I know it's been a few years since I've been to the Hall of Heroes, not since…" he trailed off, his excitement led to an emptiness. He hung him, Uraraka tilted her head smiling still.

"Since what? You trailed off there at the end. You sure you got enough sleep?" innocently she joked. Leonard kept his head down.

"It's nothing." He said, harsher than he intended. From what he could see she worded "Oh" and just looked away. He immediately regretted it. Already turning his new friend away, but he didn't know how to get back into the conversation. He looked into the store hoping they were nearly finished looking around.

Looking in the store he saw the other four still browsing the shop. It was a small shop, in the middle was the register surrounded by glass cases nearly full to capacity. Mice and other small electronics basically piled on top of one another. The sole worker there was an older gentleman, probably in his late 60s if he could guess. Carefully watching over Leonard's classmates, like an ogre would look over his possessions.

The group seemed to be entertained by Kaminari, who was trying on every headphone the man sold. All of them were gathered around him, seemingly laughing at whatever he said or did. Midoriya was the only one who seemed to be looking at some things behind them. Then Leonard saw it again, Midoriya's right arm. The scars and bruises he had on them. It was exposed to him. Showing gruesome detail in this light than the kitchen light ever could last night.

He knew he had a chance to ask, he looked over to Uraraka and she was looking away. She had a relaxed face, but he could tell that she was uncomfortable. After how he ended the whole conversation just a few minutes ago, he didn't blame her. Regardless of how he did say it, his curiosity was going to kill him if he didn't know about the scars. He spoke up.

"Uraraka?" he asked, she looked his direction with the same relaxed look. "I have to ask about Midoriya." She jumped at his name, stiffening immediately.

"Uh, yeah, what about him?" she asked, laughing awkwardly. Leonard ignored it.

"What happened to his arm?" he asked subtly pointing at it.

"It has something to do with his quirk. He breaks something if he goes too hard. It's almost as if his body can't hold it or something." she answered, somewhat softly.

"A quirk that can break your own body?" Leonard knew that everyone had their limit. Even he had one. Too many warps in a short period of time would leave him with terrible vertigo for an hour. Like his, it was usually just minor inconveniences and pains. But one would have to really push their limits for you to damage your body that critically. Other than just that, it's unheard of.

"Luckily it hasn't happened recently," Uraraka said,

"That's good to know. Maybe he got it under control now."

"Still, it is very strange. I worry about him sometimes." She stared with a softness in her eyes at Midoriya. He could tell she cares about him, who knows what they had dealt with prior to this? She must have realized he was noticing this as she took a step back, blushing wildly.

"You know, as a friend of course! Not like anything more than that or, you know!" she laughed awkwardly again, looking away from his eyes. He laughed.

"I wasn't assuming anything, really." She let out a deep breath and smiled. Glad she didn't still think he was a jerk or anything.

While facing her he looked behind her a few stores down. One of them was closed with signs to reinforce that. In front of it were a few people, six of them to be exact, watching around acting very shady. There was one that was near twice the size of them and had the head of a hammerhead shark. Scars along his neck and eye, wearing no shirt. But what really caught his attention was what was in his hand, from a distance all he could see was a flashing red light on a small brown material.

The hammerhead placed the blinking light on the door and Leonard immediately recognized what it was. Explosives, he was sure. His face tensed, Uraraka hadn't noticed them. He stared at her and then back at the group and he saw the detonator in one of the smaller goons hands, confirming his suspicion. Reacting he grabbed Uraraka, wrapping his arms around her,

"Hold on!" he yelled, Uraraka grabbed on to him and she looked back. Guessing that she saw what he was seeing. As soon as his eyes lit up purple a flash of orange and red fire exploded from the doorway near them. They appeared in the resale store next to their friends, tripping over some unseen boxes. People were screaming and running away, no way of telling if there were any casualties. Leonard let go of Uraraka and got up, lending a hand to help her. She was shocked but she immediately became focused, there was a fire in her eyes.

"You okay?" he asked, she nodded as she took his hand and got up. Both of them brushed debris off their clothes, that explosion was big. Did they even survive it?

"What the hell was that?" Kaminari asked, holding four boxes of headphones. Iida, who was already peeking out the entrance described what he saw.

"Looks like a bunch of crooks breaking in a few stores down. They're armed too, except the big one, handguns. What the hell is so important to steal in the-?" He was cut off and grunted angrily. His face became tense, eyes squinting.

"What is it, Iida? What do you see?" Midoriya asked. People ran by the store, screaming for help.

"They have a hostage, a child." he grimly spoke. All of the group gasped and they too got visibly angry. Not only are these guys crooks, but they're monsters. Monsters they were going to bring to justice.


	4. Chapter 4 - Kiyashi Showdown

"Everyone, get the hell away or I'm gonna paint the floor with his brains!" Tears were running down the boy's face, too scared to even mutter a word. The thug had his handgun pointed at the back of his skull, daring anyone to try and stop them. He had the child held in the middle of the bridge. Judging by his positioning, he had an ample amount of time to pull the trigger if anyone tried to stop him. These guys had some intelligence, which made them even more dangerous.

Across the bridge on the opposite side of the students, a young woman with short blonde hair was shouting at them.

"Let my baby go you monster!" she screamed, two bystanders ran to her, holding her back from crossing. The thug smiled and dramatically lifted his pistol to the side of the kid's head, turning away from the store they were infiltrating.

"Back it up lady, once we're done here your stupid brat will be fine." As if that would give some relief to her. "But for now, you need to back the hell away" He took his handgun and aimed it towards them and shot a few times. The bullets hit the bridge, inches away from their feet. She screamed and looked as if she was going to rush the perpetrator. Luckily, the two bystanders dragged the lady away before she had the chance. They retreated to safety, her eyes never looking away from her child.

From the sale store, Iida and Leonard observed this showcase. Both of them infuriated, it made Leonard's stomach twist. Preying on the weak is a cowardly thing to do. He tightly grabbed the wall, his hand was on the corner of the glass case. The pressure exerted nearly cracked it.

"Those monsters," Leonard said, he released his grip. His eyes began to glow purple, hair raising. "We got to stop them, right now." He began to walk out of the store, half expecting them all to follow him. Leonard thought that thugs were just a bunch of no good, low-life criminals. Nothing but petty thieves and bullies. But these guys brought a kid into this. These guys are beyond thugs, these guys are villains. He wasn't going to pull any punches against them.

"Wait!" Midoriya said, Leonard stopped. "If we're going to do this, we're going to need a plan. If we just rush in blindly we won't win this. We're talking about a kid's life here." Leonard shook his head, the rage obscuring his reason cleared. His snow white hair slowly fell back to normal and his glowing eyes became dull again. He took a deep breath, calming himself.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Leonard apologized,

"I'm just as mad if not more than you are Leonard," Iida said, still watching what was happening. "I want nothing more than to see these villains put away. But we must be rational with our decisions ." Leonard nodded.

"These guys are total jerks, they're going down!" Ashido said angrily,

"Dammit, couldn't we have just had a nice day today?" Kaminari complained,

"It looks like we won't, we got to stop these guys. That's what heroes would do." Leonard said, they agreed.

"So does anyone have a plan?" Uraraka asked.

"Midoriya, you're analytical, what do you think?" Iida asked,

"I have an idea, but I need to think for a moment," Midoriya replied,

He stood silent for a moment, resting his hand on his chin. Looking over everyone, probably analyzing their best use of his plan. While he was doing this Leonard poked his head out of the store carefully, trying to gather as much information as possible.

The top two levels of the mall had cleared out completely, not a soul in sight. The group of thugs was watching every way so they couldn't be taken by surprise. Proving to Leonard again that these guys weren't completely stupid. The hammerhead was posted outside the door into the closed shop, smoke was still emanating from the door.

The other five looked like normal human proportions. Only one other one had a triangle shaped head, his hands looked to be a dark gray color. Something to do with his quirk maybe, he couldn't tell. All of them were wearing black clothing and ski masks. Each of them had a pistol, save for the hammerhead thug. On their belts, he noticed they had a few extra clips of ammunition.

However, he pondered on how all of them could have survived that explosion. The blast radius of that detonator was at least twenty feet and they were well in range. Must be one of their quirks. One of them must have some sort of protection quirk, one that has to affect all of them.

It had been about two minutes since the explosion, Leonard wondered where the pro heroes could be. Maybe the police had shown up already, but he thought they wouldn't have a chance against these quirked up thugs. All he knew is that this was up to them right now, at least until help arrives.

Just then his nerves kicked in, coming to the realization that he was going to have to fight these guys. This would be his real first fight with a villain, everything else was training up to this point. Even at his internship during his first year, all he did was just patrol some of the nicer neighborhoods in Ladian City. He didn't even come close to danger. All he did was rescue some girls cat.

It didn't matter at this point, his training had led up to this point and he wasn't about to go to squander it. He had 1-A with him, they've seen plenty of combat. He knew they weren't going to fail him, and he sure as hell wasn't going to fail them.

"Okay, I think I have a plan." Leonard turned away, leaving Iida to keep watch. The five of them huddled around Midoriya.

"Whatcha got Izuku?" Ashido asked,

"It's obvious that we need to get that kid to safety. Leonard and Iida, I think you two should be the ones to handle his rescue." Midoriya said.

Leonard gulped. Of course, he was going to be the one to start the plan. He did feel complimented that Midoriya trusted his skills to do this.

"Leonard, you said you can teleport people ten feet in any direction right?"

"I can, I just have to be within at least thirty feet of them. Otherwise, I can't guarantee I'll be able to." Leonard answered,

"That should work. Both you and Iida should get onto the roof. Teleport the kid up in the air and Iida you should be able to fly by and grab him. Then rush off to safety before they even know what hit them."

Leonard's heart began to race, his palms became sweaty. No pressure.

"This is good, but how do you suggest we get up on the roof? I don't see many options that are quiet, Midoriya." Iida questioned, still watching out.

"Can't Leonard just teleport you both up there from here?" Kaminari asked. Leonard shook his head.

"I can't, I have to be able to see my destination. Plus I can't teleport through solid objects either." Leonard explained,

Even though his quirk was considered great, it did have some major limitations. He remembered the last time he tried to go up one floor like this and he hit his head so hard it gave him a serious concussion. Never again would he try to do that.

Leonard tried to look for other options to get up onto the roof. There didn't appear to be a ladder that they could gain access to the roof. The walls on both sides connected to the stores adjacent to them so there were no alleys to hide in. There was an AC vent on the ceiling, but there was no way any of them could fit through it.

"I don't think we'll be able to do it quietly Iida," Leonard admitted, "It looks like our only option is for you and me to run out and for me to teleport us both up there. We'll immediately have to go into action." Iida stressfully breathed out, his hand twitched. Neither of them liked the idea, but what other options were there?

"Alright." Iida softly said, "I don't like it, but if it's our only option I'm with you."

"What do you want the rest of us to do?" Ashido asked,

"Once Leonard and Iida go, their focus will most likely shift onto Leonard." By focus he meant gunfire and quirks, Leonard thought to himself. He felt the sweat drip off his brow.

"Once that shift happens, we hit them with all we got." Midoriya finished. The others seemed to agree.

"I'll do my best to support you guys with the rest of the goons as soon as I can," Leonard said,

"As will I once the child is in safe hands. Not one will avoid justice." Iida echoed.

"Alright, let's do this." Midoriya clenched his fist, waiting for both Leonard and Iida to make their move.

Leonard took in a deep breath and walked up besides Iida. Most of the thugs were in relatively the same spot. The thug on the bridge was his target, and it would be a stretch, but the kid should be around thirty feet away. There were four, including the hammer-head, outside the store. Assuming the last one was inside.

Looking up to the roof, it was about twelve feet. It'll be easy to teleport both of them up. But once they go, it'll be go time.

Leonard put his hand on Iida's shoulder.

"Ready?" he asked, there was some shakiness to his voice. Iida adjusted his glasses, the exhaust pipes in his calves extended outwards with a sounding click. He looked over to Leonard, a fierceness in his eyes.

"I'm ready whenever you are," he answered. Leonard nodded, he looked back at the others. Midoriya was enveloped by green lightning, surging through his body. The others looked ready to run out at a moments notice. He turned around, his legs shaking.

"You got this, you guys." Uraraka encouraged, Leonard, looked back. Her eyes glowing with determination were encouraging enough. She had a fire for this thing, so he did his best to mimic her drive. He turned around, took a deep breath and went for it.

Both Iida and Leonard rushed out into the open, immediately being spotted by the armed thug watching their way. He yelled something, but Leonard didn't care to listen. He looked up to the roof, his eyes glowed and in an instant, they landed on top of the gravel-covered roof. It was wider than he expected it to be, but he didn't have time to fully examine his surroundings.

Leonard looked over at the thug with the child, he was out of range. The thug had a surprising look at first at the display but became an instant blur. Iida had grabbed Leonard by the arms and had pushed him along the roof. It felt like water skiing on concrete and gravel, the heels of his feet were reaching uncomfortably hot temperatures.

In a swift motion, they came to a stop and the blur became clear, seeing that he had moved above the store where the thugs were breaking into. Looking back to the hostage, he was within range, he could feel it. The thug holding the child put the gun to the boy's head. There was a devilish grin on his face, no, a murderous one.

Instinctually, Leonard reached his hand out towards the boy, focusing his energy onto him. He swiftly raised his hand up in a swooping motion. As soon as he did, he heard a gunshot. In a split second, Leonard saw that the thug had shot his arm, blood was flowing out of it profusely. The thug let out an agonizing screech, dropping the firearm to the ground. He sighed, relieved that he was quick enough. However, his relief turned back into stress as he saw the boy.

The boy was screaming, ten feet up in the air. He was about to lose momentum and fall right back into the hands of danger.

"Iida!" Leonard yelled,

"I got him!"

Iida, with a burst of torque, flew into the air incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he had caught the kid before he started falling an inch. The power of his speed caused a wind that blew strongly behind Leonard. He braced, nearly falling off the edge. But Iida made it across the bridge, causing the catwalk to shake. He wasted no time and sped off toward safety, becoming a blur off in the distance.

"Kill that son of a bitch!" The injured thug on the bridge screamed at the others. Who before were stunned at the moment, now focused their attention onto Leonard. Four handguns were all of a sudden aimed right at him, he quickly teleported back out of sight. Gunshots were fired where he was at, the trail of bullets rocketing towards the sky.

Leonard thought he was safe, but he thought wrong as two of the thugs were thrown upward onto the roof. The hammerhead guy must have done it, only he possessed the strength to do that.

In the air, both thugs began to fire at him. He easily dodged the barrage of bullets with a teleport to his left. He wasn't going to be able to dodge forever, he looked around his surroundings. The first thing he saw was a large AC unit a few feet away from him. It looked thick enough to cover him until they ran out of bullets. He had no other options so he ran and slid behind it, narrowly avoiding gunfire doing so.

The gunfire continued to unload, thinking they were desperate for a lucky hit on him. The AC unit managed to stop a few, but the bullets ripped through the metal like paper. A few bullets just inches away from his body. Leonard's heart felt like it was about to explode, beating at a million miles a minute.

"Oh shit, where did these guys come from?" One of the thugs asked. Leonard couldn't tell who it was but he heard combat nearby, and the voices of his classmates. They must have rushed out and started attacking. Gunshots, electricity and other sounds of battle began to produce from the front of the store.

"Good thing we got back up, they'll tear these brats to shred." The other one replied,

Leonard's heart dropped at the word backup. Further complicating the situation but also putting his friends in danger. Four of them could take on three thugs no issue, now it was a bit more dangerous.

Peeking out from behind cover slowly, he saw the normal looking thug conjure a ball of fire in his hands. Leonard's eyes widen as the thug launched it his way. He teleported out of cover, closer to them. He wouldn't be able to outrun them for long, he had to take them out here.

Once he reappeared, the fireball exploded behind the ac unit causing the unit to catch fire. Shrapnel went everywhere, rendering his cover useless.

He looked towards the thugs as a sharp metal object was coming right for him. The triangle headed thug was behind the attack. His hands had turned into sharp, sword-like weapons. Luckily for Leonard, the thug had to close the distance to connect his attack.

His attack was a wide hook, easy enough for Leonard to back up out of his range. But the thug followed up with another wide slash and again he was able to avoid the attack. Rinse and repeat, his attacks were wide and predictable. Leonard didn't consider himself the greatest at hand-to-hand combat but he didn't even have to use his quirk to avoid the attacks. These thugs were untrained, low-level bad guys.

Another wide swing from the thug, instead of dodging Leonard rushed in and swung a punch at his exposed belly. It felt like punching a boulder, but he still got the desired outcome. The thug was stunned, forcefully coughing out the air that was there. Leonard followed up with an uppercut, pushing him back away from him, knocking him to the ground. The villain wasn't unconscious, but Leonard felt a thrill of besting his first real villain.

His small victory was shortlived as he looked to the side, as the thug's friend shot another fireball at Leonard, forcing him to teleport out of its blast zone. As soon as he reappeared thirty feet to the right, the thug had already had another fireball ready and launched it at him. He didn't have time to react.

The fireball managed to scrape his arm, like touching a hot stove it burned his bicep. Leonard let out a grunt of pain but braced himself for the blast. The explosion released a hot torrent of fire that breezed the back of his body, causing him to sweat.

Another fireball was coming his way, he teleported again the opposite direction and the thug threw another one and another one. Leonard kept teleporting to avoid the attacks, noticing that his aim was getting worse by each throw. The triangle headed one seemed to have gotten up and was reloading his pistol, giving them two ranged options.

In his teleports, he noticed the fireballs were coming at him slower and slower. The thug was reaching his limit, but so was Leonard. He could feel his vision starting to spin ever so slightly. This had to end soon, or he would be done for.

Leonard teleported closer to the fireball throwing thug closing the distance with about five feet between them. With the quick glance he got, he could tell that the thug was tired, his shoulders were slung and he was breathing heavy.

Using the momentum he ran in and swung a large right hook at the thug. Regardless of his exhausted appearance, the thug narrowly avoided the attack. Seeing that he was charging up another fireball, Leonard turned around and elbowed him across the jaw. He felt a crack, probably breaking it.

The thug was brought down to his knees, but he was still desperately trying to get another fireball out. Leonard was about to swing his foot to kick him one last time across the face, but a small nearly silent click stopped him. Out of the corner of his eye, the other thug had his pistol aimed right at his head. That same murderous smile the other thug gave was painted across his face.

In his frozen state, the fireball thug rushed him and sucker-punched Leonard across his face, causing him to fall back a few feet. He landed on his back, tasting iron in his mouth. Leonard rolled over on his front side and was about to get up until the gun-toting thug stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, you little bastard." He felt a strong force to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He begged for air, curling onto his side. The fireball villain had kicked him. Leonard tried to call for help but he had no air to do so, only weak breaths.

Leonard thought this was it, the triangle-headed villain pointed his gun right to his head, point blank. He closed his eyes and prayed to whatever force would help him. Leonard hoped his father would forgive him, he couldn't just stand by. Only a coward would have done that.

"Sorry about this kid, but you made it personal." The villain said. Leonard cringed, knowing he had no chance. "I'm going to enj-" A quick burst of speed rushed by and shut the villain up, and a few loud sounds of impact followed. Leonard opened his eyes to see that the villain had been knocked back nearly twenty feet. He was on the ground unconscious, Iida standing over his body.

Leonard sat there amazed, silently thanking him. But as soon as he did, the fireball villain next to him reached for his pistol and aimed it at Iida. Leonard stood up quickly and teleported the gun to him. The villain pressed his finger where the trigger once was.

"What?" the villain exclaimed, looking over to Leonard who now held the pistol, he grabbed it by the barrel and swung hard at the villain's head. Another large cracking sound as the bottom of the grip slammed into his head. Knocking him to the ground out cold.

Leonard breathed heavily and threw the weapon far from their unconscious bodies. He got down to his knees to try and recuperate. Spitting out some blood onto the gravel-covered roof. His head was starting to spin more and more. His limit was almost reached.

Iida rushed to his side.

"Are you alright Leonard?" Leonard stood up, wiping the blood from his chin.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Except that his head was pounding and he was still catching his breath. "Thanks for saving me back there."

"Thanks for saving me, I didn't see the other firearm. A foolish mistake on my part." Iida said, still catching his breath as well. If he wasn't quick enough, Iida might have gotten seriously hurt or even killed. Luckily, that's guilt he won't have to carry.

Just then, a loud impact came from below them, shaking the entire roof of the place. Leonard could tell it came from the store that the thugs broke into, a cloud of debris outside the front of the store confirmed it. Sounds of fighting and gunfire below followed after it. The rest of his classmates were obviously in some trouble. Without a word, Iida and Leonard ran to the edge to see what was happening.

The large hammerhead villain was in a battle with Midoriya, and it looked like he had just been thrown across the bridge. A large crater where Midoriya was standing hinted at this. Below Leonard, through the hole from the explosion, the hammerhead villain ran towards Midoriya on the bridge at a breakneck speed. With a battle cry, Midoriya jumped at an incredible height and came down heavy with a rolling kick aimed at the head of this villain. The villain was quick to notice and looked like he managed to bring his arm up to block the attack. An explosion of dust and debris blocked the sight of both of them as the two forces connected.

Leonard couldn't see what was going on due to the cloud of debris but there were other sounds of fighting going on right next to him. Down below on the catwalk, Leonard saw his other classmates run into a nearby store, avoiding gunfire from the thugs. But there were more than he had counted before. He had counted six thugs altogether before their attack. There now appeared to be four more than previously, they were slowly advancing on his classmates. It must have been the back up they were talking about earlier.

Two were taken out by Leonard and Iida, and he could see there were two unconscious bodies on the catwalk below them. They looked fried, like electrified. Kaminari's doing for sure, he hoped he didn't fry his own brain trying. Regardless, Leonard and Iida had to do something fast, the gunmen were reloading and about to storm the store. Some of the debris was clearing up and Leonard could see that Midoriya was in trouble, a large swinging fist hit him hard causing him to fly back into another store.

"Iida, I'm gonna go help Midoriya, you go take care of the thugs." Leonard directed. It felt strange to give out orders like this, but Iida nodded and without a word, he dropped down. Leonard did the same and watched Iida instantly take two of them by surprise, kicking them in the back and launching across the walkway. Turned out to be the right choice after all.

As soon as he landed, he ran to the bridge where the hammerhead was approaching Midoriya at a slow, methodical pace. Midoriya, to Leonard's surprise, got up and brushed the dust from his shirt. He had a few cuts and bruises but nothing critical. The villain stopped in the middle of the bridge and must have noticed Leonard approaching. He turned to his side, seeing both him and Midoriya were on both sides of the bridge, trapping him.

The sheer size of the villain finally showed. Leonard being only five foot nine thought he was on the shorter side for a while, but this guy had to be pushing seven and a half feet easy. Nearly as wide as the bridge itself and all muscle. He hoped that would be the extent of it.

Leonard got into his fighting stance and so did Midoriya. The hammerhead grinned, revealing his sharp jagged teeth. He could feel his legs quivering, but he didn't move. These villains took a kid hostage, no holding back.

Midoriya was the first to launch himself at the villain with a blinding burst of speed, taking the villain by surprise with a double kick to his chest. A large huff came from the villain, Midoriya sprang himself into the air off of his chest. The villain was focused on Midoriya, expecting another spiraling kick down onto him. His back was to Leonard, this was his opportunity.

Sprinting towards the villain, he jumped nowhere near the height of him. Mid-jump the villain turned around and extended his large arm towards Leonard, opening his hand with the intent of catching him by the throat. Leonard smiled, confusing the villain, and he teleported up in the air with a clear line of sight at the villains T-shaped head. Rearing back for a punch to his exposed beady eyes, a rush of water blasted Leonard from below him.

He was blinded by the water and couldn't tell which direction he was going. Water forced itself down his nostrils causing him to cough and choke. Frantically wiping his eyes, he managed to get one open to see that he was flying right overhead of the villain, approaching the opposite end looking down.

"Leonard, watch out!" Midoriya screamed, it was from above and approaching him at a fast speed. He looked up with one eye and saw the figure of Midoriya coming right at him. With his sight impaired and his head spinning, Leonard couldn't get a clear view of where to teleport too. If he doesn't teleport, then Midoriya would crash right into him, injuring them both. He was almost at his limit and if he teleports somewhere bad, it'll be game over.

But he did it anyway, looking at whatever direction he saw he carelessly warped. Instantly regretting it as his head began to pound and his sense of direction lost. He reappeared and could hardly tell that he was facing upwards towards the sky. He could see in his peripherals the two sides of the mall were on each side of him and he was falling, fast. Flipping onto his other side, there was nothing between him and the bottom of the first floor.

There was no way he could teleport to safety, he couldn't differentiate up from down. Somewhere, he heard the sound of an impact come from somewhere, possibly Midoriya. He might have been able to land the attack. But that was the least of his worries, he was about to pass the third-floor landing. Even the thought of teleporting made him want to vomit.

If he thought the gun to the head was the last brush of death he had, this one was going to be the submerging into the depths of death. He closed his eyes and felt the wind blow by as he fell down and down into his end.

"Leonard!" He heard the voice of Uraraka, coming from behind him. He raised his eyebrow and turned around to see her diving from the catwalk down to him. Was she nuts? Before he had time to react she latched onto him, wrapping around his chest that caused their momentum to shift across to the opposite side of the mall from her. Not wanting her efforts wasted on him falling, he latched onto her too tightly. He felt a warm sensation come from her hands on his back and in an instant, he stopped falling and was floating slowly towards the second-floor catwalk.

Uraraka put her hand on her other arm and Leonard saw a pink glow and felt the radiance of the warm touch come from her hand. He remembered now from the sports festival that she could make things have zero gravity, even people.

He remembered watching the sports festival, with her fight against Bakugo. She got the hell beaten out of her. Constantly getting blown up by Bakugo, but she fought long and hard. Too bad her strategy didn't work, Leonard knew he would have fallen for it.

But she had an extremely powerful quirk in his own mind. She looked up at him, she had a few cuts across her cheek and her shirt was ripped on the shoulder. He only imagined what he looked like.

Before he knew it he felt the wall of the store come into contact with him and they were about three feet off the catwalk. Uraraka let go of Leonard and put the tips of her fingers together.

"Release." She said as he felt gravity again and both of them fell down to the ground.

Leonard landed on his backside while she landed on her feet. He let out a grunt of pain, but it was nothing compared to the headache he had. But his leg was hurting too, definitely bruised, probably from that hammerhead guys water ability. As soon as he landed, he leaned up against the wall and pinched the bridge of his nose. Uraraka ran up to his side.

"Are you okay Leonard?" she asked,

"I could be better, my leg and head are throbbing," he said, squinting his eyes, "Thanks for saving me, I owe you one." She smiled but was quickly stopped as another loud explosion came from above. The bridge on the third floor was within view. Another torrent of water burst from where he was not too long ago, Midoriya was still in trouble. Leonard tried to get up, but a spike of pain forced him to sit. Uraraka put her hand on his shoulder, keeping him down.

"You need to sit still, you're in no condition to fight right now."

"They need our help, that guy is too strong." he urged, she was right, he was in no shape to go back up. He could barely keep his eyes open, the light from the sun felt like a dagger to his brain. He hated his limit, but he did love his quirk.

Leonard examined his leg. A nasty red patch was right where he felt the pain. It had to be the torrent of water from that guy, it hit him hard. His arm was okay from earlier, albeit with less arm hair than before, but he'd survive. He felt useless knowing his friends were up there still fighting. Looking up again the sun pierced his eyes, sending nails to his brain, he closed them shut, hoping to relieve the pain.

All of a sudden he heard a volley of footsteps come from his right, a lot of them. Leonard managed to open his eyes to see a wave of blue uniforms, it was the police. Finally. His heart rate went back to normal, thanking whatever god there was that it wasn't another group of thugs. There seemed to be about ten of them coming his way, they were armed with rifles and were wearing ballistic vests. One of the officers walked up to the two of them, seeing that Leonard was on the ground he picked up the pace.

"You two, are any of you injured?" he said behind the ballistic helmet. Many of the other officers kept walking past them and began to run up the stairs to meet the villain. The other few stayed behind and guarded both Leonard and Uraraka.

"My friend here is hurt, his leg is bruised," Uraraka explained. The officer kneeled down and slowly took a look at his leg. It wasn't the deadliest of bruises by far, but it still hurt. He twitched at the touch of the officer's hand on the bruise, signaling him to keep his hand off. Hard to imagine this came from a blast of water.

The officer stood up.

"Are you able to walk?" The officer asked,

"I think so," Leonard started to get up, but his vertigo caused him to stumble. Uraraka grabbed his arm helped Leonard get to his feet, he put his arm around her shoulder to ease the weight.

"Officer Araki and Officer Nanjo, see to it that they get escorted back to safety. This one needs medical attention." The officer said. Leonard assumed he was their superior.

Both of the officers he called by name understood and walked on both sides of Uraraka and Leonard. The commanding officer stood up and called out to the rest of his squad, ordering them to follow him to subdue the villains. When Leonard heard this, he visualized in his head all of them getting knocked back by that powerful blast.

"Be careful, one of them has a powerful quirk. Are you sure you're able to take care of it?" Leonard asked,

"Don't worry, the pros just arrived not too long ago," he said, "They should be here pretty soon." As soon as he finished the sentence, a brown humanoid figure swung high above them. It was Kamui Woods, using his quirk to swing from the bridges. The look that Leonard saw he was determined, and he moved with a fierceness. He jumped onto the bridge out of sight from the rest of them. Seeing a pro in action was amazing every time Leonard saw it.

Behind them, where the police arrived from, he saw a larger hero on his way. It was Death Arms, much bigger in person than Leonard thought. His arms were the size of Leonard's entire body He ran by and matched the energy of Kamui Woods, wasting no time getting to danger. The rest of his class just needs to get out of there now, let these guys handle it.

The two officers began to walk with them, watching their backs as they made their way to the exit. Looking back, he kept seeing explosions of debris coming from the bridge. He hoped the pros could take care of this guy, and hopefully, no one from his class got seriously injured. Waiting was all he could do now as he limped to safety.


	5. Chapter 5 - Morningstar

Leonard and Uraraka managed to leave the mall safely, however getting there was quite painful. The bruise that the villain left on Leonard's leg was irritated and giving some discomfort, making it incredibly hard to walk. Luckily Uraraka was helping him ease the weight, even though she was inches shorter than he was. The help was appreciated none the less.

The police had shown up at the perfect time, there was no way he would have been able to counter attack if the villain decided to pursue. Leonard wasn't as strong as he thought he was. Without the help of his new friends, he couldn't defeat a single villain alone. Class 1-A really was a force to be reckoned with, individually or together. With the oncoming semesters, he would be able to achieve the same level of power and control as they have.

There was a sea of people at the edge of the perimeter, civilians and first responders alike. Civilians on their toes to get sights of the battle inside or to see the pros in person in action. The police let both Uraraka and Leonard through the manned blockade guarding the entrance to the mall. About twenty officers donned in ballistic vests and helmets scanning the crowd with a watchful eye. Looking for other villains trying to make a move or to make sure a careless civilian wanders into dangerous territory.

Once they crossed the perimeter, both of them were guided towards the EMT's that were far behind the crowd. Many of the EMT's were already treating people, but most of them seemed like minor injuries. Scratches from falling or a few bruises from the crowd evacuating.

Leonard was treated immediately for his leg and vertigo. Quickly they disinfected his leg and bandaged it. They said it was nothing serious but should go easy on it for a few days. Which was going to be hard granted that school was about to start up in two days, but he said he would try. To help with his vertigo they had him lay down on a soft mat up against one of the vehicles and gave him some sort of liquid in a small clear cup. The drink was clear and fizzy, like carbonated water.

He had never seen it before. Usually, he would just sit down for half an hour, until he felt better or he threw up. He sipped a small drip of the beverage and it was like a drop of licorice filled his mouth. He jerked his head back before spitting it onto the asphalt parking lot. Leonard asked what it was, the EMT told him it was a special solution to help the pools in his ears go back to normal. It was a mix of different healing herbs and other chemicals that he'd never heard of. It was either quick recovery or slow, vomit-filled recovery.

Choosing the latter, he downed the strange substance, the taste making him gag. Once he swallowed it, he felt the effects almost immediately. He felt a bubbly sensation in his stomach, settling it easily. Plus he felt his head clearing and vision becoming less and less dizzy. This was a miracle juice to him, why hadn't he heard of this stuff before. He asked if he could buy some, but of course, it wasn't for sale.

While the miracle juice was doing its work he was asked to stay put for the time being and that the police were wanting to speak with him and his friends once it was safe to do so. He did as told, and sat up against the large ambulance truck. There were still sounds of explosions and gunshots coming from the mall and it sounded like it was getting further away from them. The crowd was startled at the sounds of gunfire, worried looks splattered across their faces. The worst part was that his friends were still in there, and he had no idea if they had escaped yet. He couldn't help but feel worried that the worst would happen. He hoped that he was wrong.

Uraraka came from around the corner with a bandage wrapped around her right arm. She seemed calm for the most part, but he was certain she could tell that he wasn't.

"Everything okay, Leonard?" she asked,

"I'm fine, it's just that I'm worried about the rest of our class." he answered, shuffling, "That one guy was incredibly strong."

Uraraka made her way over to Leonard, sitting by his side.

"I'm sure they'll be okay, the pros should be able to handle this," she assured. He looked to the mall, a pillar of smoke was emitting from the far side.

"I suppose, but it's weird to me that only two of them showed up," he replied, it wasn't making sense. This was a hostage situation, in a populated area. One would think it would be a top priority for as many heroes possible.

"Crime has gone up since All Might retired as a pro." she said, "Many of the heroes have been spread thin to make up for it." Leonard looked ahead.

"I guess that makes sense," he answered.

It was crazy to him to think about the impact of just one hero can have on society. The ratio of heroes to villains was always in favor of the villains, there wasn't a doubt about it. All Might was the pillar that held it all together, with him gone, Leonard was uncertain about the future. The world needed heroes more than ever now.

"Uraraka! Leonard!" Came from the crowd in front of him. It was Midoriya's voice. Leonard took a deep breath of air once he saw them making their way towards them. Once they emerged they quickly made their way over, Uraraka stood up while he remained sitting.

His class seemed uninjured, like Uraraka. There seemed to be only a few scratches and scrapes on their arm or leg. Leonard was in disbelief that Midoriya, who faced the hammerhead villain by himself for most of the time was practically untouched. What power did he have? It didn't bother him at this moment, they were safe.

"Thank goodness, you guys are okay," Leonard said,

"Yeah, thanks to the pros we were able to get out of there pretty quick," Kaminari explained.

The class joined around in a circle near Leonard, a few of them had concerning looks on their faces. Most of them were looking at the bandage wrapped around his leg, a light red hue showing where the bruise was.

"I'm fine guys, it's just a small bruise," Leonard assured. It didn't hurt as bad as it did earlier, and they seemed to believe him too.

"Were the pros able to detain those guys yet?" Uraraka asked,

"They were still fighting by the time we escaped." Iida said, "I would imagine that they would have knocked out and in handcuffs by now."

"Did anyone see where those other thugs came from?" Ashido asked, "They came out of nowhere."

"I heard them mention backup when I was fighting those two guys on the roof," Leonard said.

"Well if it weren't for Iida, I don't how we would have," Uraraka said,

"Yeah, you totally kicked those guy's ass into next year," Kaminari exclaimed. Iida crossed his arms.

"No need for the flattery you guys, I was only doing what a hero would have done, that's all," he replied modestly.

Leonard chuckled along with the rest of the group. He thought back to the roof of the building not even twenty minutes ago. That low-life villain pointing a gun right to his head, looking right down the barrel. It shook him. Never before had he been literally in the face of danger like that. No training exercise even came close to giving him this feeling of fear.

But even in the midst of it, adrenaline was rushing through his bloodstream. It was a natural high that he strangely enjoyed. His quick brush of death wasn't about to stop him in his tracks. He was ready for his next fight, another villain to be taken off the streets at his hands alone this time. But how long would it be before he gets his second chance at it? There were the hero-work studies coming up in a few weeks, surely he'd get a chance or two to take some down.

If it was anything like the internships, he would be extremely disappointed. Leonard didn't even do any but a few his classmates back home mentioned how most of them just walked the streets and nothing happened. They were posted in the safest parts, and if any danger was within a five-mile radius they would avoid it. The hero-work studies should be much better, according to his upper-classmen. The thought of capturing a villain was all he could think about.

He smiled until he realized that he had completely blanked out of the conversation. Kaminari was talking about the fight he had with one of the villains, how he got surrounded and sent out over a million volts of electricity. He was being extremely over the top with hand signals and reenacting his fight. It got everyone smiling and involved.

"Excuse me." Just then, Leonard noticed a woman walk up behind Kaminari and Ashido in front of him. "You wouldn't happen to be class 1-A from UA high right?" she asked, her voice full of authority.

The woman who approached them had long black hair that reached the middle of her waist, where the color faded to deep violet. It was well kept like her outfit that was mainly a violet colored dress suit and she had black dress pants that mirrored her hair. The woman was older, maybe in her forties, he couldn't tell. Her red eyes glanced around at the group behind the black glasses.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, scared that one would cut off the other until Midoriya spoke up.

"Uh yeah, we're from class 1-A."

"Oh how splendid, I am Madam Osaki of Dakurozu Hero Agency, it's a pleasure to meet all of you," she said bowing slightly. Her smile shined brightly.

Leonard couldn't remember if he had heard of that agency before, and judging by the look on Midoriya's face even he didn't seem to know of it either. Granted, Leonard couldn't name five agencies in Japan to save his life. But her demeanor seemed friendly. Everybody introduced themselves in a friendly manner until it was Leonard's turn to introduce himself.

"My name is Leonard Daniels, it's nice to meet you as well."

Her eye twitched at his name, a confused look plastered on her face.

"I don't think I've heard of you before," she stated.

"I'm an exchange student from the states," he answered, "I actually just got here yesterday." She smiled, putting one hand on her hip.

"You've only been here for a day and you're already saving lives, that is very noble of you I do say."

"Thank you, I would like to think that anyone who could have done the same thing would have," he answered, sheepishly smiling at her praises.

Iida stepped forward and began to introduce himself.

"My name is Tenya Iida, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He respectfully bowed to her.

Her smile faded for a quick second, turning into a disgusted frown. Only moving her eyes to view him. Leonard noticed this, but before he could fully analyze her expression she went back to a professional, friendly manner. It was off-putting, but he decided to brush it off, maybe he was just seeing things. No one else seemed to notice.

"The reason I approached you all is I had is that I know you all have your hero-work studies coming up in a few weeks. Tell me, do you all have an idea of which agency you are thinking of going to work for?" she asked,

Leonard thought about it for a moment, mostly everyone else answered her question. The fact was is that he didn't even know of any agencies he had zero connections. After everyone had answered, she asked what Leonard's plan is.

"To be quite honest, I don't know." He scratched his head, "I don't have any connections with anyone."

She seemed to have expected that answer, her smirk gave it away.

"Well, allow me to be your first Mr. Daniels."

Madam Osaki reached in her jacket and pulled out a collection of business cards. They were obsidian black with purple text on it, that's all he could make out from the distance. He imagined it said something along the lines of Dakurozu Hero Agency and a phone number or something. She then went around and passed them out to each student, each of them inspected it like it was some archaic text. His predictions were correct, there were the name and phone number on the card, plus an email and her name. The card was heavier than he expected, it was made out of some sort of a well-made metal. Next, to her name, she had the title 'Owner'. He wasn't all surprised, she definitely fits the bill for an owner.

This couldn't have been a better opportunity for him, agencies could be a pain to get signed on. Especially if you're starting out agencies have the tendency to turn those down without any experience to their name, just like every job for the most part. All of a sudden he was back to being excited about hero work.

"I'm looking forward to hearing back from some of you if you do happen to change your minds. Good luck and farewell."

"Thank you so much." Was all Leonard could say, he stared back down to the card. The rest of the class thanked her, and she waved goodbye as she began to walk away from the group. Iida walked a few steps towards her before stopping.

"Excuse me, I do apologize but I didn't receive your business card. I don't want to be rude."

She stopped, her back to the group and she stood still for a moment. Leonard heard her sigh, before flipping back to her normal attitude and turning around with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I don't have anymore on me. Perhaps you can just use one of your friends' cards," she coldly answered. Iida stopped bowing without a word and just nodded his head. Madam Osaki again waved before turning around and walking away, disappearing back into the crowd.

Leonard put the card into his pocket and realized that his head was feeling perfectly fine. That drink they gave him had done what half an hour of rest in just about seven minutes. His leg still hurt somewhat but he could walk on it with some help.

For the next few hours that followed, it was quite an annoying turn of events for all of them. The police wanted to do a full investigation of the attack and required a personal account from each of the students in detail. Making sure they had their provisional licenses and that this attack wasn't connected to the league of villains. The police were relieved to see that they weren't seriously injured and that the attack was purely coincidental.

The whole process, however, was long and tiresome. And to make things worse, some of the villains got away. The hammerhead villain, and the one who had taken the kid hostage, who they believe to be the leader of the group. When he had heard this news it shocked him that Death Arms and Kamui Woods weren't able to apprehend the two of them. They were able to capture the remaining seven villains due to the help of the class.

Witnesses said that they were after money, the hammerhead villain was seen carrying a large safe. It didn't sit well with Leonard. All that ruckus in a highly populated area just for a few thousand dollars worth of money didn't make any sense. There had to be plenty of other places with a lesser density of people to get an easier profit. The police couldn't get ahold of the store owner, and the mall hadn't seen the owner in months. But that was all they were able to know.

By the time it was Leonard's turn to give his account, the time had reached three in the afternoon. His injuries had been dealt with by then and the police were catering food to those who had to stay this long, his class included. Also, the mall had reopened during that time, since the search for the villains had ended. Nowhere in sight and no idea where they could have gone.

Leonard gave his account as best as he could remember it. Some of the questions they asked got very detailed. Having never done this, it was overwhelming at times. There was one question about the make and materials of the breaching charge were plus a whole bunch of other questions that he didn't feel qualified to answer. But the whole process took a good forty-five minutes of questions and answers.

After he was done, he walked out of the trailer the police had set up outside the mall. Most of the other emergency vehicles had left during that time, leaving the police trailer the only one left up. The police had said they would give his class an escort back to school just to be safe. His friends were waiting outside in some seating area conversing with one another. He made his way over to them and before long they were piling into police cars and on their way back to UA.

The cars could hold three students each in the back, Leonard joined Kaminari and Iida in one while the other three got in the other vehicle. Never before has Leonard been in the back of a police vehicle. The seat was uncomfortable, there was no cushioning to it at all just some hard plastic. But luckily it wasn't going to be a long trip. A lot of firsts decided they would all pile on today. First villain fight, first police questioning and now riding in the back of a police car. What were the odds? The math didn't really matter, what mattered is that he made it out alive and that they saved a kid's life.

The ride back home was quiet, Kaminari and Iida looked worn out. Leonard felt the same, hero work is exhausting. He would go back and sleep, but it seemed too early for that. Plus he had six bags full of decor that needed to be put up. Getting back to UA was a shorter trip for sure, even though there was some traffic on the way back home. They pulled through the front gates of the school towards heights alliance 1-A dorm and they began to get out of the cars.

Thanking the police for the ride, the police officers wished them well before driving back towards the city. Soon after they made their way towards the double glass doors. Leonard's leg was still pretty sore making it hard to walk on, Iida noticed and helped Leonard walk, putting his arm around Iida's neck to put as little weight as possible on it. Iida was arguably the best suitable to do this, being only a few inches taller than Leonard.

When they opened the doors; Tsu, Kirishima, Ojiro, and Yaoyorozu were sitting on the couches watching TV. They immediately turned their heads towards them and stood up to greet them. On the TV, the news was playing interviews and reports about the mall attack. The news anchor on the program mentioned that two of the attackers were still at large and had escaped earlier that day. But he couldn't focus on it that as the four of them came up, relieved to see them all.

"Hey, guys!" Ashido exclaimed, beaming at her friends. All of them with exciting looks on their faces.

"We heard about you guys on the news! Sounded like those guys didn't stand a chance!" Kirishima said,

"Yeah, those guys were totally out of their league," Kaminari added in. Leonard chuckled at them, walking with Iida to the circle they formed.

"What happened to your leg, Leonard?" Tsu asked, causing the other three to take notice. He let go of Iida and leaned up against the couch, placing his bags down on the floor.

"I kind of charged in at the hammerhead guy straight on, I thought I had an opening. I highly underestimated him." he chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head.

It was a stupid mistake, after all, no doubt about it. He was expecting some criticism for sure.

"Yeah, but, it totally gave me an opening!"

He looked at Midoriya, who brightly looked back at him.

"I thought I got in your way?" Leonard asked, "We nearly collided."

"Almost, but he was about to blast you again with that torrent quirk, but once you warped again he was already committed and I was able to land my attack."

If this were anyone else, Leonard would have taken this as showing off. But Midoriya seemed so humble about it, almost as if it wasn't possible without his stupid move.

"Your quirk was essential in saving that child," Iida said, "I don't know how we would have done that without you."

Leonard was told all the time growing up that he was blessed with a great quirk. Hero material quirk since he inherited it from his mother. Hearing it back then just became common things people would say. Which was nice to hear no doubt. Rather than hearing it because he could do something cool with it, he was being praised for saving someone with it. Hearing in that manner meant something even more than the former.

"Thanks, guys," he replied, "But if it weren't for you Iida I would have been dead. You too Uraraka. Every one of you guys is amazing."

"I think this just turned into a one-upping contest for everyone but themselves." Ojiro joked, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Well, we are all glad that you are all okay. I'm sure you're all exhausted." Yaoyorozu said.

"Yeah I am pretty beat, fighting sure takes a lot out of you," Uraraka said in between yawning.

Everyone who went to the mall looked like they felt the same. Their eyes were half open and their shoulders drooped low. Leonard was exhausted, Uraraka was right, hero work is exhausting. Too bad the bags at his feet reminded him he had to wait. He could do it tomorrow, but that would quickly turn into doing it the next day and the next until the end of the semester was here.

"I'm probably going go to sleep here in an hour or so," Leonard said, lifting his bags, "Once I get all this stuff put up."

"Wait, you aren't planning to put all that up by yourself are you?" Iida asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah?" he answered, confused at the idea of their his question. Sure he was hurt but it was just posters and other things that he thought he could manage.

"You are injured so I cannot allow it." Iida said nobly, "I will assist you in this matter."

"Really, it's not neces-" Leonard said before getting cut off,

"Hey let me help too!" Ashido exclaimed, "I did help you pick out a lot of that stuff!"

"Yeah man, let me help out too!" Kaminari exclaimed also,

Soon enough everyone who went to the mall joined in to help him. It was a bit overwhelming all of them wanting to help, but he was kidding himself thinking that he was able to do it alone. He sighed with a smile.

"Alright, you can all help."

"Yes! Your room is going to look so awesome Leonard!" Ashido exclaimed before running for the stairs. Leonard didn't even know if she knew where his room was at.

Shortly after, the party made their way to his room. They wished the others good night, though they insisted they were still going to be up for quite a while. Iida helped Leonard up the stairs the entire time, using only his good leg to hop up each stair. It would have killed him doing it alone.

When they reached his room it was just as bare as he left it, albeit a bit messy from earlier that morning. No one seemed to mind as most of them got right to work and started pulling things out of the bags and asking him where he wants it. Not being able to stand for long, they let him sit down on the bed while they did most of the work. He would open up packages and assemble small things like the shelves for his wall.

What Leonard bought wasn't considered essentials in his mind. He did buy a few posters and some wall shelves with some collectibles. Mainly top heroes and just things he thought looked cool. The posters, which Midoriya helped pick out, looked really nice along the walls. A large poster of Leonard's favorite heroes in Japan all on one wall above his desk; it would give him some inspiration hopefully. Luckily he did buy other things that made his room look like a sixteen-year-old lived there rather than a six-year-old.

The rugs were just solid colors, a red and a blue one. His bed covers consisted of different shades of blue in a simple square pattern. The curtains matched the bed covers blue tones and gave the room a cool feeling. Ashido may have picked some expensive things initially but she did have good taste in what worked color wise for the most part.

The whole process was a lot of fun. Constantly they were cracking jokes or telling stories about their time together. Leonard had told himself over and over again how these guys felt like family. Little by little Leonard was starting to feel more and more a part of this family. It was going to be a good two semesters here, he only hoped he could stay longer if it was going to be like this. He wasn't sure if his dad would let him though.

If he was constantly under attack like at the mall, his own life in danger every day, he wasn't so sure. But it would be something his dad would have to be used to when he becomes a pro, every day will be a dangerous day for him, and that is something he is willing to give up. His safety for others safety. Maybe it could work out, another year or maybe he could even graduate here. Too many factors to add and mix in the equation.

He hadn't even told his dad what happened today, the attack or nothing. Surely by the time he wakes up tomorrow, his dad would have found out by then. Although he appreciated his dad's concern for his safety, it did wander in the realm of overprotection. Hell, he almost wasn't able to go to UA in Ladian City due to his concerns of safety. Luckily things changed but he wasn't certain he would change his mind about another year here.

Leonard was on the bed when this thought came to him. He hadn't been listening to what was going on. All of a sudden his room was almost completely decorated. He only had two bags half full of stuff, and Kaminari was re-telling the events of earlier today. About how he blasted two thugs with electricity, again. Ashido was quick to respond.

"Yeah, then after that you were hiding behind the rest of us telling us to go get them."

Kaminari, who was unpacking some curtains, nearly tore the whole thing in half. Leonard cringed at the sound of a few fabrics tearing, knowing how much he spent on those.

"Well, I was trying to be a leader! What, you wanted me to short wire in the middle of that fight?" he yelled,

"No, but how funny would it have been if you did?" Ashido laughed, getting pretty loud. Luckily Iida stepped in.

"Alright you two, that's enough. We shouldn't be bothering the other students." It got them to stop yelling, but it didn't stop Kaminari from glaring at Ashido, he looked like he was about to pounce on her. Ashido was still cracking herself up at the thought of his short wire. Iida walked up to him but failed to see an empty box that was tilted awkwardly. Leonard attempted to warn him but Kaminari yelled something outrageous, cutting him off. In a matter of seconds, Iida tripped forward onto Kaminari. Kaminari was quickly able to avoid IIda by jumping back out of the way but backed straight into Leonard's desk. The sound of glass shattering echoed in the room, a small wooden frame lie face down near the desk. Shrapnels of glass surrounding it.

Luckily Kaminari had longer jeans on so the glass didn't cut his leg from the impact, and Iida wasn't close enough to the desk. Slowly he made his way out of the glass minefield, his hand on his mouth in shock. Leonard's heart stopped for a moment, praying that the photo was unharmed.

"Oh man, I am so sorry dude," Kaminari said, carefully reaching down to pick up the photo that was buried underneath the wooden frame.

"Is the photo okay?" he asked urgently. Kaminari showed him the photo and flipped it around a few times.

From what Leonard could tell, the photo was fine. There wasn't a single cut on it, his mom and dad's faces were still visible and the backdrop looked even clearer. He breathed deeply, calming down and sat back down on his bed. Forgetting how much his leg hurt at the moment, spikes of blood coursing through his body.

"I apologize profusely Leonard, I should have been more cautious," Iida said, "I'll go get a broom and clean this glass up." Leonard thanked him and Iida left the room.

Kaminari walked to the other side of the room towards the bed and gave the photo to Leonard. He held it and looked at it closer for a moment. There really were no scratches on the photo miraculously.

"Is that you, Leonard?" Ashido asked, who was now over his shoulder pointing at the unenthusiastic child staring back at him.

"Yep, that would be me." Leonard nodded.

"Oh my gosh, you were so cute!" Ashido exclaimed, causing Leonard's cheeks to burn red.

Midoriya and Uraraka came over to look. He always hated looking at old photos of himself, he hated it more when others were with him.

"Wow man, how old were you in this pic?" Kaminari asked,

"I'm eight in that," he said,

"Your mom is really pretty Leonard, I can see where you got your white hair from," Uraraka said. Her words hit him like a bag of bricks to his stomach. His hands were trembling and he felt tears beginning to build up in his eyes. He fought it, hoping no one would notice. Midoriya gave a soft gasp.

"Leonard, don't tell me," he said softly. He could tell Midoriya knew who she was, of course he would know.

Leonard felt a hand on his shoulder, from behind him it was Ashido.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" she asked. Leonard didn't know if he should try to lie his way out of this. He was forcing the tears back and trembling in front of everyone. Inhaling deeply and holding back tears he looked at the picture. There wasn't a point to it, no point in pushing away people.

"My mother was Natalie Daniels, better known as the Warping Hero, Morningstar. This was the last picture we took together before she was murdered."

Everyone reacted as he would have expected, a soft gasp with silence. Midoriya looked like he wished he was wrong. He held his hand over his mouth and just sat in silence with everyone.

"I'm so sorry about that Leonard, that's got to be rough," Ashido said, her hand on his shoulder.

"I thought you looked familiar to someone," Midoriya said, "But I would have never guessed you would be the son of Morningstar."

"Yeah. I've tried to keep it that way." Leonard answered, "It hasn't been an easy eight years."

"We don't have to talk about if you don't want to Leonard," Uraraka suggested.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have even brought it up and would have loved a way out of talking it. Every time he thought about it, it nearly always made him feel awful. Reliving those times was never a good time. But at that moment he felt so, vulnerable. For some reason in front of these guys, he could be himself. He had lived behind a mask for so long, he felt like he had forgotten who he was for some time.

"Strangely, I do want to talk about it." Leonard said, "If that's okay?"

"Of course," Midoriya said, carefully grabbing the chair from the desk and sitting in it. Everyone else gathered around him. Before he began, Iida had returned to find them all circled up. Leonard explained, causing Iida to feel even more guilty over the photo. Leonard assured him it was fine. Iida said he would replace the frame as soon as he could before he sat down on the floor next to Midoriya. Leonard inhaled deeply.

"My mother was the number eleven hero in the states. Number four in Texas alone," he started, "She was loved by so many people and saved so many lives in the ten years of her being a hero."

While speaking he remembered seeing old videos of her in action and being recognized at so many events in the state. Meeting the governors and top people in law enforcement. Even meeting the top heroes of the entire country. She was a superstar to the citizens of the states. But most importantly to Leonard, she was his mom.

Her costume was the coolest thing to Leonard, she donned titanium armor suit and shield. The design was very much adapting armor designs from knights in fantasy novels and art, but that was her. Of course, it was much more combat efficient. Making it a tighter fit allowing her to move much more freely than the knights of old. She wore the colors of blue and yellow, with the crest of the sun implanted on her shield and chest plate.

He would watch so many fantasy shows and she would read him story after story about a knight defeating dragons or goblins. She was such a nerd and it showed through him. Always in her free time, she would want to play tabletop RPGs with him. Together they would create their own stories of fantasy heroes and defeating evil.

He let a tear slip out of his eye down his cheek.

"Despite all the good that she did, I hated her job. I hardly ever saw her those days. She was always off saving people's lives or preventing some disaster. She would leave the house more times than I could count. Until there was the day she left the house for the last time."

He remembered it like it was yesterday. It was going to be the perfect day for him. Both his parents were home on a Friday night. No work planned, just an evening of play. They had a great dinner consisting of homemade pizza and ice cream, and they had games they were all wanting to play plus a movie to finish off the night. Leonard remembered spending weeks planning it all with her, down to the smallest of details.

The night was perfect so far, they had finished eating dinner and played three full rounds of their favorite game,

. There was so much laughter and so much smiling that he wished he could have been there forever. As all of them had gone to the living room to put on their favorite, that damned phone rang. The sound of work, emergency situation. Leonard's constant smile and laughter turned to sadness.

He whined and threw a fit, but she promised that she would be back within an hour. Then she would spend the rest of the night with him and his dad. Nothing would get in the way of that. She quickly suited up and left the house. Little did he know that was the last time he would ever see her.

"About an hour goes by and my father gets a call. I thought it was her calling to say that she got caught up at work, or something else that stopped her from coming home. But all I saw on my dad's face was absolute fear."

Near seconds after he answered the phone, Leonard was told to get in the car. His dad's eyes were wide and anxious. Leonard kept asking what was wrong and was mom okay. His father kept assuring she was, but there was not a shred of confidence in his voice. He was going way over the speed limit down the intersection, Leonard feared for his own life. He could hear his father whispering to himself 'please, please, please' over and over again. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew it was his mom.

It took minutes for them to get there, and his dad ran in with him. Doctors and other heroes were already waiting in the lobby for them, and just by their faces, he could tell. She was gone. Leonard never saw his father break down as he did in the hospital waiting room. Down on his knees, scream-crying. The other heroes did their best to comfort him while Leonard stared off into space. Feeling like his entire reality was stripped away from his soul. His mom was gone.

She was gone at the hands of the notorious villain, Dreadknight. The self-proclaimed 'cleanser' of society. Killing drug producers and killing anyone who had a hand in illegal drug production. He claimed that heroes did nothing to help society, the lower class; so he took it into his own hands.

He had never seen the Dreadknight in person, only on news reports and archived photos of him. His real name was Kirk Flemmy, thirty-three years old at the time he killed Morningstar. Long, greasy black hair and an unkempt beard. Dark circles around his pale blue eyes and large red talon-like fingers. The full embodiment of evil. She faced him head-on, protecting criminals from losing their lives and she lost. Stabbed straight through the heart.

At the expense of others getting injured and almost killed as well, the other heroes managed to detain him. Dreadknight was arrested for multiple homicides, assaults, and robberies. He was sentenced to seven lifetimes at the highest security prison in Texas. Never to see the light of day again.

Leonard had a river running down his face at this point, he couldn't look anyone else in the eye. Even if it was people he had already come to trust. He heard the others sniffling, and for sure knew Ashido was crying behind him.

"I was so mad. Mad at the doctors. Mad at Dreadknight. I was mad at her for leaving me."

The days following her death he would spend hours in his room, screaming at her into the aether. He would scream 'come back' and 'how could you leave me' nonstop. He ripped his hero posters down, broke any action figure he had ever gotten. To him, heroes were the worst thing anyone could become in his mind, they were selfish. To leave those they loved to fight for those they didn't even know.

The day of the funeral was something he had never seen before in his eight short years of life. The rows were filled with thousands of people. It was held in Emerald Stadium, one of the largest stadiums in Texas. Every single seat was full of someone. Heroes, civilians, and family were there, nearly 30,000 of them. Every single speaker that spoke about his mom, made him feel guilty about his view of heroes. All the people she saved, all the heroes she inspired, moved his eight-year-old mind.

"It was at that moment I knew I wanted to become a hero, like my mom. I wanted to save people and keep them safe. I wanted to make her proud, that's why I took her name Morningstar, so her legacy can live on through me."

Leonard went silent, letting the tears flow down his face. He looked at the picture of his mom, his beautiful mother. Ashido's arms wrapped around him from behind him. Her face was in his shoulder and he felt the tears soak in his sleeve. Hugs were something he didn't receive very often. Not that he didn't like them, just no one hugged him. He relished the comfort from her.

"Leonard, I am so sorry," she said,

Leonard noticed that everyone had teary eyes, even Iida, who looked more angry than sad. His fists were clenched and his eyes closed.

"I hope that bastard never sees the light of day ever again." Iida declared,

"He never will, I know it," Leonard replied,

Never again will that monster steal another person's life from them. If somehow he escapes, Leonard promised to himself that he would be the one to put him back. Doubtful that he would escape without him hearing about it, so the day would more than likely never come. The things he would do that scumbag.

The silence in the room was killing him, he knew he had killed the mood in the room. Everyone was still letting tears drip from their eyes.

"I'm sorry for making everyone cry like that, I know it's been a long day."

Ashido let go of Leonard, wiping the last few tears off her face.

"Don't feel sorry, I'm glad you were able to tell us," Ashido replied. Her smile was sweet and warming. It was probably her pink skin and hair that made it all seem that way. It did feel good to talk that out, it was therapeutic for him. Almost wished that he had done it earlier.

"Yeah, you're right. I've never really talked about this at all to anyone else." Leonard said,

"We're all here for you if you need to talk about anything," Midoriya promised, which made Leonard relax even more.

Eventually, they got back to finishing up Leonard's room. Their once teary-eyed faces started laughing and joking again. It took another forty-five minutes to get everything unpacked and put away. But once it was done, the room looked completely different than before. Gone were the plain white walls and plain laminate wood floors. The walls were covered in posters and wall art that had a few cracks of the white wall, but for the most part, spread a menagerie of blues and reds. The floor had rugs and mats by the bed and the middle of the floor. Everything inside was organized and looked neat to his liking. It was now home to him.

All of them stood in the center of the room and just stared all around at their work. It definitely wasn't some masterful interior design work and the color scheme didn't make much sense, but in Leonard's eyes, it was good. All of them were proud of it and he was happy with it. It was a win-win.

"Wow, this is so much better than before." Leonard thought out loud,

"Isn't it? It looks really good." Uraraka agreed,

"I'm so glad we were able to help you out Leonard," Midoriya said, "Even though we did have to fight a few villains to get it all."

Leonard chuckled and looked towards the group.

"Really, thank you, guys. You all have been awesome today." Leonard said. He checked his watch, noticing the time was nearly nine o'clock. He was beaten since four and so was everyone else, all he wanted now was to get some rest. He only had one more day to sleep in longer. After that, the second semester begins.

Everyone one by one made their way out, saying goodnight as they headed their separate ways. Soon enough Leonard's room was empty, only his new decor to accompany him. Leonard set the last picture of his mom on his desk gently, Iida had promised to replace the frame as soon as he could. He stared at it in the dark, still not convinced that he really opened up like that to his classmates. Even though only five of them knew, it wouldn't surprise him if the whole class knew by the end of next week. If they cared to know that is.

But once he came to peace with it, he went to bed. The real work was about to begin.


End file.
